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DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 








DAME FORTUNE SMILED 


€lf)e 2Dottoc’sf 4>fotp 


WILLIS BARNES 

tv 



BOSTON 

ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY 
Copley Square 
1896 






Copyrighted, 1896, 

BY 

WILLIS BARNES. 

Rights Reserved. 


Arena Press. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. The Doctor 7 

II. Madame Von Hoffman 15 

III. New York 25 

IV. A Breakfast and Walk in the Park 51 

V. Dinner at Mr. Von Hoffman’s 68 

VI. Frances Adams Calls 97 

VII. Mr. Gold’s Proposition 106 

VIII. Mr. Oliver Calls on Me 137 

IX. The Voyage Arranged 147 

X. A Morning Walk 160 

XI. Our Departure on the Y acht 169 

XII. My Engagement 191 

XIII. My Mother’s Home in Berlin 205 

XIV. My Marriage 217 

XV. Homeward Bound 230 

XVI. Home Again 243 

XVII. Two Fortunes Easily Won 250 

XVIII. Mr. Savory 257 

XIX. “The Frances Heimath” is Finished 273 

XX. The Gold Trust 280 

XXL Mr. Savory joins the Gold Trust 288 

XXII. Mrs. Black 302 

XXIII. Mrs. Black is Again Generous 322 

XXIV. One More Beneficence and Conclusion 326 


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DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE DOCTOR. 

I PROPOSE to tell my own story, which I 
think I can do better than anyone else, by 
here recording a series of experiences which 
occurred to me, in my early professional 
life, under circumstances which were purely 
accidental. 

The only original actions on my part were 
the result of the experiences as they occurred, 
no one of them being premeditated. I had a 
theory and ambitions over which I was wont 
to dream, but I had never quite made up my 
mind how my theories might be put in prac- 
tice. 

Let me first of all give you a brief biog- 
raphy of myself* 


8 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


I was born in Berlin, Germany. My 
parents were German. My father was a 
doctor of medicine, very celebrated in his 
profession, having discovered the usefulness 
of medicines by which he and his profes- 
sional brethren, the world over, were success- 
fully able to combat certain diseases. 

My mother was a woman of great supe- 
riority of mind, and she possessed the power 
of reading human character with such per- 
fection as to make her ability celebrated in 
her social circle. 

I was educated at a German university, 
and took a post-graduate course at an 
English college in Oxford. I inherited my 
father’s taste for the profession of medicine 
and the study of chemistry, and in due 
course of time I graduated from a Ger- 
man medical college, and at twenty-three 
years of age I found myself with a written 
permission to take part in the battle against 
disease, and help fight back, with such scien- 
tific skill as I might have, the demon — death. 

Before entering upon the practice of my 
profession in any community, my father said 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


to me : My son, I advise you to spend the 
next five years in the hospitals of Europe, 
and to study actual disease in all its various 
forms. That you may not be disturbed in 
your study by at the same time being com- 
pelled to earn your living, I will make you 
an allowance, to cover the period of five 
years, of a sufficient sum of money for your 
personal comfort and to enable you to ap- 
pear in the best circles of society, no matter 
where you may be.” 

I accepted my father’s advice, and visited 
every great city of Europe and took up resi- 
dence as a student in their chief hospitals. 

In 1883 I found myself in Paris as the 

assistant of the great Professor Y , in 

his private hospital. 

Let me now describe my personal appear- 
ance, and then we shall feel quite well ac- 
quainted. 

At the time this record of events is written, 
October, 1900, I am 45 years of age and 
married. Six feet tall; weight just two 
hundred pounds ; hair, German blond, very 
thick, and pushed back from the forehead. 


10 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


after a habit of student days. Beard not 
heavy, worn in style of Napoleon III. Eyes 
dark blue. Teeth large and perfect. I am 
very strong, am skilful in games of outing,” 
and take deep interest in athletics. I have 
not drunk any alcoholic liquors since my 
mind became sufficiently mature to under- 
stand that without exception all such liquors 
are poisons. I use tobacco only moderately 
and then always in the privacy of my study, 
never in public. 

I have had a goodly experience with life, 
disease, and death. I have studied the 
human mind when it was as clear as a cloud- 
less sky at midday ; I have struggled with 
its mysterious vagueness when darkened by 
the midnight of insanity ; but, with all my 
experience, I can come to no other conclu- 
sion than this : That life is worth living if 
it can be lived in the sunshine of health, but 
the darkness of ill-health makes life a weary 
struggle, with much sadness to bear; yet I 
am fully convinced that more than eighty 
per cent of the current, everyday disorders 
which mark the lives of so many persons, is 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


11 


caused by a wilful disregard of simple laws 
of nature. 

In closing my personal introduction to 
you, permit me to say that I have also dis- 
covered that the secret of happiness lies not 
alone in the enjoyment of normal health, 
but in a life of self-sacrifice. 

Do ye for others more than you would 
have others do for you. Then you will be a 
leader and not a follower. 

The great mass of humanity in this world 
are, as a whole, very ignorant. They 
blunder on like one lost in a dark forest ; 
therefore I believe it should be a pleasant 
duty for those who have been more happily 
endowed, to set lights of guidance on every 
hand to lead others on to better and brighter 
experiences in this worldly life, leaving the 
mystery of the great hereafter to take care of 
itself ; here we are, and here let us remain 
for as long a time as possible, under the 
most favorable conditions which health and 
happiness may ever be relied upon to give 
to the conscientious seeker. 

In our experience and observation of 


12 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


human nature, and the events which form 
the details and peculiarities of the lives and 
fortunes of those who stand in the front of 
commercial or professional life, I think we 
may fix upon some one great or small event 
which has shaped the course and formulated 
the conditions incident to their more mature 
age. 

My own experience has been no exception 
to this rule ; indeed, I may say it has been, 
if anything, more pronounced for a profes- 
sional life, which at best is often pursued 
away from the madding crowd. 

In the fall of 1886 the event occurred 
which proved the turning-point in my life. 

It was about midnight of Saturday, the 
28th day of September, that a call was made 
upon Professor V to attend an Amer- 

ican lady who was reputed very ill at the 
Hotel Belle Vue. 

As the Professor did not treat patients at 
night, I was sent by him to attend this 
lady. 

On arriving at the hotel I was ushered 
into an elegant apartment, where I found 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


13 


the lady in the care of her maid and some 
lady friends. 

She seemed to be suffering much pain, 
was quite hysterical, declaring that she was 
dying, and called upon me to save her life that 
she might return to her home in America. 

I whispered to the maid to invite the 
lady’s friends to retire to the salon. Being 
left alone with the maid and madame, I was 
not long in discovering that her suffering 
arose from an acute attack of indigestion, 
and that her hysterical condition was the re- 
sult of fright. She was of a highly nervous 
temperament, and I felt that hers was a case 
which could be treated by mental suggestion 
with success ; she seemed to me a very re- 
ceptive subject. 

After administering a hypodermic injection 
of distilled water, I took madame’s hand in 
mine and looking earnestly into her eyes, I 
said with emphasis : 

^^You are beginning to feel relief ! you 
are better ! are you not? ” 

She replied faintly, but with some evi- 
dence of suffering, Yes, I think so.” 


14 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Then, still commanding her attention, I 
said : Are you not sure that you are 

better? ” 

And she said with a great sigh of relief : 

Yes, I am sure.’’ 

Having thus allayed the nervous storm, I 
administered the proper remedy for the re- 
moval of the disturbing cause, and in the 
course of an hour my patient was quietly 
sleeping. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


15 


CHAPTER II. 

MADAME VON HOFFMAN. 

The next morning about noon I called at 
the Hotel Belle Vue and sent my card to 
Madame V on Hoffman, my patient. I found 
her ready to receive me in the salon. 

Madame was most profuse in her thanks 
and praise of my successful treatment of her 
case. She said : 

Doctor, during the past five years I have 
had several such attacks, which have always 
left me greatly prostrated and compelled me 
to keep my bed or room for two or three 
days. Your treatment has been most won- 
derful ; it seems like magic, for I now feel 
almost as well as ever. If I only had you 
in New York, near my home, I believe you 
would be able to entirely cure this most dis- 
tressing sickness, for which I have spent so 
much money in travel and medicine to have 


16 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


relieved. My husband is also a great sufferer 
from some stomach disorder, and I know of 
others who would become your patients upon 
my recommendation. Why not come to New 
York? You would make your fortune.” 

I thanked her for her kindness and confi- 
dence in my ability. 

She then said : Doctor, have you settled 
down to the practice of your profession in 
Paris?” 

I replied : Oh, no, I am free to go any- 
where, but I fear I should have long and 
anxious waiting for successful practice in 
America. I am not rich, I must depend 
upon my profession for my future living, 
and I should hesitate to go among entire 
strangers.” 

But,” she said, doctor, I am sure you 
would succeed in New York ; do think 
earnestly about it.” 

I said that I would do so and talk with 
her further about it at a future time. I 
little thought that it was to be the turning- 
point of my life. 

Let me explain a little more of my personal 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


17 


family connection, then you will better 
understand how I happened to come to New 
York. 

In 1884 my dear father died ; by his will 
I was given a few thousand dollars in money, 
while to my mother and brother were left the 
home and practice in Berlin. 

My brother, who had also chosen medicine 
as a profession, was a mild and gentle person, 
much devoted to my mother ; he had not 
been urged forth into the world by my father 
as I had. Indeed, to venture into unknown 
fields of worldly and professional experience 
had always borne a special charm for me. 

I had been tempted to come out to Amer- 
ica prior to my meeting with Madame Von 
Hoffman, so that my mind was most deeply 
sympathetic with her suggestion, and 
although I did not at once inform Madame 
of my resolution, I concluded that I would 
at least go to New York and look into the 
possibilities of professional success there. 

A few days after my second visit to 
Madame, I received a request to call upon 
her at once. 


18 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


I found her very well, and very glad to 
see me, and she at once entered upon the 
matter uppermost in her mind. She said : 

Doctor, I cannot get out of my thoughts 
the idea that you should go to New York, 
and now I have sent for you to urge a 
proposition. In two weeks my daughter 
Louise and my son Carl will be here on their 
return from Baden, we shall then go at once 
to Southampton, and take the German line 
steamship Lahn for our homeward trip. I 
want you to return with us. My son is not 
well, and I am always very seasick ; you 
alone, I believe, can relieve me from the 
misery of the trip. I wish you to go in your 
professional capacity, as the physician of 
myself and family. 

My husband is a German, his friends in 
New York are Germans, he is a banker and 
a man of large means, and if, after you see 
New York, you will settle down there and 
practice your profession, you will have the 
benefit of a large acquaintance among your 
own people. Will you come? ’’ 

Madame Von Hoffman was an American, 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 19 

and her proposition had been made with the 
spirit and energy of her native land and 
seemed to admit of no denial, and as I was 
much inclined to go, I said at once : 

Yes, madame, I will go, but not in a 
professional capacity. I will go as your 
companion and that of your children, and 
such service as I can render you to make the 
voyage an easy one, I shall be only too 
glad to do, as a small recognition of your 
generous confidence.” 

Madame seemed overjoyed at my decision 
and said : A great load has been lifted 
from my mind, for I had so dreaded the 
voyage ; but with your medical care I feel 
sure we shall go over the great ocean with 
comfort.” 

And so it was arranged. She telegraphed 
for her son and daughter to return at once 
to Paris, so that the son might have my care 
for the period before we left for America. 

In two days they arrived ; I met them at 
once. 

Louise Yon Hoffman was a quiet girl of 
fifteen years of age, rather backward in both 


20 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


physical and mental development ; but the 
son Carl was a youth of much promise. He 
had graduated from an American college, 
but had strained his nervous vitality by 
study ; he had also inherited from both 
parents a weak digestive organization. His 
visit to Baden had not been conducive to 
rehef, for his physician there had not been 
fully informed of his constitutional weakness 
through inheritance. 

When my decision had been made to go 
to America with Madame, I said to her, “ I 
wish to put you under treatment, so that you 
may be better able to withstand the motion 
of the ship, and thus avoid possible seasick- 
ness.” 

My father had made several happy com- 
binations of medicines, which had been of 
great service in his practice; among them 
was one which he amusingly called his 

dyspepsia gun,” for he said, with this 
gun I shoot and kill that demon, dyspepsia, 
which causes so much misery to the human 
being.” 

This medicine was of course known to me. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


21 


With it I proposed to put superior sea-legs 
under Madame and her children. 

I took Carl under my special care, at my 
own apartments. I had provided for him the 
most nutritious food which could be prepared 
by our skillful hospital cook. But the most 
important treatment I gave to both Madame 
and her son was that dictated by mental 
suggestion. Every evening at nine o’clock 
I called at Madame’s apartments and after 
an hour’s pleasant conversation I would turn 
to Madame and say, wish you to sleep 
well to-night, for in sleep we find the greatest 
cure for all the ills of life, and you will thus 
be the better able to cross the ocean.” At 
once she seemed anxious to retire, and the 
next evening would tell me how well and 
sweetly she had slept. The change in her 
physical and mental condition was most 
marked, and we all saw with the greatest 
satisfaction the healthful look in her face 
and the quiet pleasure which seemed to 
possess her mind in anticipation of her 
return home. 

On our return from the evening visits to 


22 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


the mother, I would at once endeavor to put 
the son under the same influence of sleep. 
At first I found it very difficult, for his 
nervous system was far out of balance, and 
there was a great lack of vital equilibrium ; 
he seemed like a piece of steam mechanism 
which was rushing madly on without a 

governor ; ” but in five days I brought 
him under my control, and his sleep became 
as peaceful as an infant’s. 

Professor V , my tutor, friend, and 

patron, had long been a devoted student of 
the mystery of the control of one mind over 
another. He said to me : If you hope to 
be successful in treatment of your patients 
by mental suggestion, you must with as great 
skill as possible conceal from them the in- 
fluence you exert ; patiently gain their con- 
fidence as you would that of a wild or tame 
animal which you desired to train, and 
succeeding in this, then earnestly but 
secretly apply the power.’’ 

He would also say : My dear son, 
hundreds of physicians relieve their patients 
or bring them into a receptive condition to 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


23 


be cured of disease, through the power of mind 
over mind, but neither the physician nor their 
patients recognize the power. The patient 
says, have confidence in my physician.’ 
The physician says, ^ This patient is respon- 
sive to my medicines,’ whereas, in truth, the 
successful medical treatment was only made 
possible after the mental coresponsiveness 
had been established. On the other hand, 
hundreds of physicians are fully aware of 
this power of mind over mind, and practice 
it daily at the bedside of their patients, but 
they hesitate to announce their power for 
fear they may be classed as quacks or 
dreamers.” 

How true this was from 1880 up to a very 
recent period every physician of intelligence 
now fully understands. At this time the 
science of mental suggestion or the power of 
mind over mind has, by penal statute in every 
state, been relegated to the control only of 
members of the profession of medicine. That 
which was once a widespread fanaticism, and 
practiced quackery under the names of ^hnind 
cure,” faith cure,” Christian Science,” 


24 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


etc., has now been wiped out, and its prac- 
tice by other than reputable medical prac- 
titioners made a misdemeanor, punishable 
with fine or imprisonment. 

There cannot be any doubt but that in 
many cases the medical profession has been 
greatly aided by the empirical discoveries of 
the layman. The chemist has often been the 
discoverer of valuable medicines which have 
proven to be saviors of life and destroyers of 
disease, but these results were only made 
possible through the skilful application ‘ of 
the scientific physician. But when this 
dangerous power of mental suggestion was 
taken up by charlatans and exercised as a 
quackery by ignorant and irresponsible men 
and women, simply for personal gain, it was 
a wise measure to take this splendid means 
of relief of nervous disorders out of the 
hands of laymen and fanatics, and place it 
where it should be, within the control of 
scientific medicine. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


25 


CHAPTER III. 

NEW YORK. 

Before leaving Europe for my new field 
of professional life, I made a hurried visit of 
farewell to my dear mother and brother in 
Berlin, receiving her blessing and his affec- 
tionate adieu. Then came my parting from 

my loving friend Professor V , with 

whom I had spent nearly four years of the 
most delightful social and professional life. 
It seemed a sad trial for my old friend and 
patron to part with me, but he was ambitious 
for my success in new fields of learning, 
and urged me to enthuse our professional 
brethren in America to take all measures to 
put the old mystery of mesmerism, now es- 
tablished as a science, upon a firm footing, 
and to wipe out the fanatics who were play- 
ing ignorantly with this power, as a child 
with fire. 


26 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


As planned, Madame Von Hoffman, her 
son and daughter left Paris with me by the 
usual route for Southampton, there taking 
the German ship Lahn. The trip over the 
ocean was made with considerable comfort. 
Madame Von Hoffman tried to be ill, but I 
exerted all my skill to prevent it and suc- 
ceeded in keeping her on deck more success- 
fully than I had hoped ; her voyage was so 
much better than any she had ever made 
before, that I was well satisfied with my 
treatment, and she was profuse in saying 
that all her comfort was due to my skill. 

Carl and his sister were not ill; both en- 
joyed the voyage greatly, and Carl showed 
clearly his return to the enjoyment of normal 
health. 

For myself, I began to feel that I should 
be able to present my patients to Mr. Von 
Hoffman in good form. 

During the voyage I had many conver- 
sations with Madame Von Hoffman, who 
gave me quite an extended account of their 
home in New York, and of the large number 
of German friends of Mr. V on Hoffman, who 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 27 

often came to their house to enjoy musicals 
and other social entertainments. She spoke 
of her large social acquaintance among her 
own American friends, also of her large 
family connection, the prominence of her 
husband as a banker, and frequently said. 
Doctor, I tell you about my home and my 
friends that you may be assured that you 
will not have to struggle for acquaintances 
in New York. Indeed, I mean that you 
shall be known to our friends in various 
cities, for they or their friends may not 
unlikely come to New York for medical 
advice.’’ 

Mrs. Von HofPman was indeed a most 
generous woman, full of kindness for others, 
and it was a happiness to me to know that I 
should have the entree to her hospitable 
home in my new field of professional labor. 
To these dear people I shall ever be grateful 
for the deep interest they took in me when I 
came to New York ; through them has come 
to me all the happiness of my life, and the 
wealth and professional status I have 
secured. 


28 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


During the voyage I made the acquaint- 
ance of a Mr. Oliver, who was a railway 
magnate of some prominence in America, as 
I afterwards ascertained, and apparently a 
very wealthy person ; his wife and two 
children were with him. 

I was sitting on the deck talking with Mr. 
Oliver one morning, when without warning 
he fainted. I called the ship’s doctor, and 
in a few moments we restored him to con- 
sciousness. He declined to go to his state- 
room, but continued to talk with me, and so 
it happened that I was soon possessed of the 
history of several months of illness. 

About two months previous he had been 
stricken down in his office in New York with a 
shock something like the one just experienced. 
His physician advised him that he had been 
overworking and that he must go to Europe 
and rest. This he had done, but the experi- 
ence had not been successful, as he had not 
been able to sleep well at any of the watering- 
places, and he felt secretly that he was 
growing worse and feared to tell his wife of 
it. He was so anxious to return to his home 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


29 


that he had taken the first ship, and as 
this one had been crowded he was compelled 
to take a small room, and the man who was 
his room companion was so unpleasant to 
him that he could not sleep as well as he felt 
was necessary for his health. His mind was 
therefore in a very unhappy and disturbed 
condition. 

Mr. Oliver seemed ignorant of the ways 
of ocean travel, and had not made any effort 
to better his condition. I invited him to 
come into the captain’s cabin, and after mak- 
ing a passing examination of his physical 
condition, I told him that if it would be agree- 
able I would gladly aid him in having a 
more comfortable voyage; he seemed grate- 
ful for my offer, and said he would pay any- 
thing for sleep and comfort. I consulted 
with the captain and he kindly gave up his 
own room. That evening I told him I would 
come to his berth and give him some medi- 
cine at bedtime, and see if we could not 
secure a good night’s rest. 

At ten o’clock I found him in bed ; I 
said : I am going to give you some medicine. 


30 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


not an opiate, but a tonic, which will quiet 
your nervous excitation and prove a food to 
your hungry nervous system.^’ 

After giving him the medicine, I said : 

Do you think if you were kept very quiet 
and away from everyone, that you could 
sleep ? ’’ 

He said, I would try very hard to do so.” 

W ell, now is your opportunity ; begin 
at once, compose your mind, look upon me 
earnestly as a soothing influence for nervous- 
ness, resolve to sleep, and believe earnestly 
that you will.” 

During the conversation I had been strok- 
ing his arm and looking earnestly into his 
eyes. In ten minutes I saw the lids begin 
to droop, and in fifteen minutes he was in a 
natural sleep. I left him, but at two o’clock 
I went softly to his berth and found him 
still quietly sleeping. At six o’clock I went 
again and found him awake. 

‘‘ Why, doctor,” he said, I have been 
asleep,” 

Yes, you have slept nearly seven hours, 
soundly.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


31 


It cannot be possible ; I have not done 
such a thing for months.” 

Well,” I said, I have been in to see 
you during the night and I know it is 
true.” 

I then called the steward and had a bath 
prepared for him of warm sea water, after 
which I had him again go into his berth and 
told him that he must remain quietly there 
until the next morning, that his American 
physician had advised him correctly that he 
wanted “ rest,” but had failed to tell him 
how to get it. 

I could see there was a disposition to rebel 
against my advice to stay in the berth, and 
so I exerted my mental power and soon had 
him under consent. 

Madame Oliver and the children visited 
him during the day, and by evening he said 
he felt better than he had for months, that 
he wanted to get up and go to the smoking 
room, or if not that, to sit in the captain’s 
cabin and smoke a cigar. To this I said no. 
I had discovered a receptive case for mental 
suggestion, and I was determined to make 


32 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


the most of it as a matter of practice, if for 
nothing more. 

I told him that he must have another 
quiet evening and night and then he might 
think of getting on his legs. 

At ten o’clock I put him to sleep, and at 
six the next morning I found him awake and 
getting out of his berth for his warm sea bath. 

Ah, doctor,” he said, you have captured 
me. Your medicine is making a new man 
of me. Do you intend practicing medicine 
in New York? ” 

am going to New York to look about, 
and if I like the place and the people I shall 
stay and pursue my profession.” 

He said, You may count upon me for 
one of your patients.” 

But,” I said, ‘‘ you will have to make a 
very radical change in your habits of life if 
you wish to retain me as your physician. I 
make it my business to cure disease and make 
men mentally and physically happy, but to 
accomplish this they must be obedient to my 
advice, as I take all the responsibility of the 
result.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


33 


^^Well, doctor, I will promise to be 
obedient, for I believe in life and its enjoy- 
ment.’’ 

I said : Do not be too sure of your 
obedience ; try it on this ship where you 
cannot get away from me, and so test your 
resolution. Now, for example : I request 
you to eat only one egg and to drink one 
glass of milk for your breakfast ; for lunch 
a beefsteak and one piece of buttered toast 
with a glass of hot water; and at three 
o’clock I want to see you undressed and back 
in your berth.” 

But, doctor, I feel so well that I am sure 
I can eat like any other well man.” 

Pointing to the berth I said, ^^If you 
wish to recover, you must be obedient to 
me.” 

He gave up at once and said, I am your 
slave.” 

I will not in further detail describe my 
success with Mr. Oliver ; his wife came to 
me in tears, saying, Doctor, I feel that you 
have saved my husband’s life to u^” 

As for Mr. Oliver, he looked more than 
3 


34 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


he said. I never saw anyone who expressed 
more gratitude by gesture than he did. 

I introduced Mr. and Mrs. Oliver to 
Madame Von Hoffman. Mr. Oliver said 
that he was quite well acquainted with Mr. 
Von Hoffman, as he had frequently had 
business connections with him in New York. 
Mrs. Oliver and Madame Von Hoffman be- 
came great friends, and both were loud in 
their praise of my skill,’’ as they called it, in 
bringing about such a very favorable change 
in Mr. Oliver’s health. If the dear women 
had only known how simple the problem was 
to solve, possibly they would have said 
Oh, pshaw ! I could practice that kind of 
medicine myself.” What they called skill ” 
I denominated the secret of creating normal 
living. These people had been living un- 
natural lives, really fighting back the normal 
health, which was at all times trying to assert 
itself. 

Mrs. Oliver and Madame Von Hoffman 
took deep interest in the emigrants on the 
ship, and when the unexpected baby was 
born to a young German woman, they went 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 35 

among the passengers and collected quite a 
nice sum of money for the mother^ and also 
obtained clothing for the baby. 

On our arrival in New York we were met 
at quarantine ” by Mr. Yon Hoffman and 
several German friends, who received us with 
great joy ; I seemed to come in for a large 
share of the welcome. Now for the first 
time I began to understand that letters and 
cables from Madame had kept her husband 
fully advised of my services to her and my 
acceptance of her suggestion to come out to 
New York. 

It was indeed a great pleasure to be 
received so kindly in a foreign land and in 
one’s own native tongue ; I began to feel at 
home at once. 

Mr. Von Hoffman insisted that I should 
make his home my resting-place until I 
could find a suitable office and residence, but 
as I had brought out some letters of intro- 
duction from Professor V and others, 

to professional friends, I felt that I could 
better be entertained and entertain my friends 
at an hotel than if I were under the restric- 


36 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


tions of a private home, I therefore decided 
to go at once to the Plaza Hotel, where I 
hoped to find two gentlemen to whom I had 
letters of introduction. 

On coming down to the dock from the 
ship after our arrival in New York, Mr. 
Oliver said to me, Doctor, where are you 
going to stop ? ” I said : 

At the Plaza Hotel.” 

Ah, then we will go together, for my 
family will stay there for a few days until 
our house, which is near the Plaza, can be 
put in order. I will send Mrs. Oliver and 
the children in our carriage, but you must 
go up with me ; ” and this I did. 

On arriving at the Plaza, and at the 
request of Mr. Oliver, who seemed to be 
well known to the hotel clerk, I was as- 
signed to a very pleasant room and parlor 
on the second floor overlooking Central 
Park — much more luxurious apartments, 
indeed, than I had been accustomed to, for 
my life had been spent for several years in 
college and hospital accommodations, always 
comfortable, but never luxurious, and this 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 37 

new experience was rather a surprise to me, 
for I feared that a permanent residence would 
soon bankrupt me. 

On the evening of the day we arrived in 
New York, Mr. Yon Hoffman called at the 
Plaza to see me. After his visit, and just 
as he was leaving, he handed me a sealed 
envelope, enclosing a letter which read as 
follows : 

“New York, Oct. 1886. 

My Dear Doctor : 

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than 
to know that you are really here in New 
York, near us, where I can have the benefit 
of your skill at any time. 

Now you must write us down in your 
book as your first American patients, and 
we will write you down as our family physi- 
cian. My husband desires me to enclose 
this check, which please accept as a recogni- 
tion of your care of myself and children in 
Paris and your great success in treating us 
and giving us such a comfortable journey 
over the ocean. 

And now to the most important part of 


38 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


my missive. W e would be delighted to have 
you dine with us on Sunday evening next, 
at 6 : 30, and meet some of your countrymen. 
We will expect you. 

Your very appreciative patient, 

Emily Von Hoffman.” 

Here was my first and most astonishing 
surprise ; the bank-check inclosed in Mrs. 
Von Hoffman’s letter was for one thousand 
dollars. I was sure it must be a mistake, 
for I should have been satisfied with one 
hundred dollars, and acting upon this thought 
I hurried to the office of the hotel, hoping 
to find Mr. Von Hoffman before he could 
leave. I was successful and met him just as 
he was leaving. Rushing up to him I said : 

Here is some mistake ; your wife has 
enclosed me your check for one thousand 
dollars. That is much more than I have 
expected. Is it not a mistake ? ” 

No ! no ! my dear doctor ; that’s all 
right ; put it in your pocket. You must 
have some capital besides your brains to 
start your practice here, so good-night 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 39 

again. Be sure and come to us Sunday 
evening.’’ 

I was dumfounded, but I remembered 
that this was America, where money is said 
to be so quickly and easily made. I had 
been ten years preparing to practice my pro- 
fession as a means of livelihood, as well as 
pursuing scientific research, but I did not 
expect to make a fortune in a day, though 
this thousand dollars, added to my patri- 
mony, made me feel that I had quite a com- 
fortable sum to begin my new life with. 
From my father I had received five thousand 
dollars, and now I had six ; surely my 
professional lines were beginning to be laid 
in pleasant places. I was not a stranger to 
the value of money, and my father’s good 
advice had taught me that money was power 
more often than knowledge, but that knowl- 
edge could be made the medium to command 
money. 

About midnight, just as I was preparing 
for sleep, a servant came with a message 
from Mr. Oliver, asking me to come to his 
room at once. 


40 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


I found him in a very excited state of mind- 
He had been on the office floor of the hotel 
among railroad men and stockbrokers^ and 
had drunk some alcoholic liquor, which, 
taken in association with the mental excite- 
ment of business conversation, had produced 
a nervous storm of considerable severity, 
and he feared that he was going to have a 
very uncomfortable night if he attempted to 
sleep without some medicine, so he had sent 
for me to help dispel the fear. 

Lecturing at midnight is not agreeable to 
either patient or physician, so I retained my 
criticism and went to my own apartments 
for medicine. Returning I found Mr. Oliver 
in bed and ready for my ministrations. 

It was not long before he fell off into sleep, 
but I feared it would be of a troubled char- 
acter and would leave him somewhat pros- 
trated from the reaction of the stimulants he 
had taken. This reaction is always depress- 
ing, and particularly so from use of alcohol, 
and just in proportion to the strength of the 
liquor and the quantity imbibed is the extent 
of depression. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


41 


At nine o’clock the next morning I sent 
to Mr. Oliver and inquired how he had rested, 
and greatly to my surprise he came in person 
as an answer to my message and said that he 
had slept quite well,” but felt a little head- 
ache and weakness.” 

He said, Doctor, I had a good lesson last 
night, and I have come to say that I fear I 
cannot yet undertake any exciting business.” 

I felt that now I had my opportunity for 
good counsel, so I said : 

Mr. Oliver, you are in a very delicate 
state of health from nervous debility, and 
you will have to be exceedingly careful in 
your living this whole winter, or you may be 
very ill with nervous prostration, or if you 
take a severe cold it would most likely de- 
velop in pneumonia, by reason of your lowered 
vitality. Apparently you are strong, but 
really you are in too weak a condition to 
attempt any serious engagements in the busi- 
ness part of the city. You will have to make 
up your mind to at once go into treatment 
at your own home, where you can be more 
comfortable than anywhere else, and for 


42 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


recreation you may join some athletic club, 
where you can have a properly directed ex- 
ercise. If you have any business so impor- 
tant as to require your occasional personal 
attention, it must be done in your home 
library, and through one person, say a sec- 
retary. This, my dear sir, is my best advice 
for you. You do not require medicine, but 
rest and nutrition. I will from time to time 
direct your course of daily exercise. 

And now, first of all, let me say that 
you must to-day leave this hotel and go to 
your own home ; if it is not ready for your 
family, we will at least put in condition one 
room so that you can sleep there to-night.’’ 

During this lecture, I could see rebellion 
and yet a deep conviction that I was right. 
I felt that to succeed in crushing the rebel- 
lion and at the same time bring my patient 
within subjection, I must exert my mental 
power over his mind. I put forth this 
power and it was arranged as I had advised. 

Before leaving me he said : Now, 

doctor, you have come to New York for the 
practice of your profession, and I want you 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


43 


to feel that I, for one, appreciate all that 
you have done for me. You have, I believe, 
given me another chance for life. I Avant 
you to feel comfortable in the beginning of 
your practice, so that you need not be com- 
pelled to seek some obscure office, therefore 
I want you to keep these apartments and 
make them your office. I know Yon Hoff- 
man, your friend, and we will send you such 
patients as can afford to pay you large fees 
for your highly valuable services. You 
have labored for years to attain your pro- 
fession, and now you should have a moneyed 
recognition of your efforts to better the phys- 
ical conditions of humanity. I have made 
out a check as my first contribution to you 
in part recognition of your services to me, 
and here it is.” 

“ But, Mr. Oliver,” I said, your check 
is for five hundred dollars ; you certainly do 
not mean this.” 

Yes, I do,” he said ; I consider the 
price I have fixed for your service to me 
so far as money better spent than any 
sum I have paid out for a long time. No, 


44 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


do not thank me. When you have com- 
pleted your ministrations to my broken- 
down mind and body, and had a few more 
such checks from myself and others, you 
may thank that great physician — your 
father — for entailing upon you the ability 
to renew the health of the human brain and 
body.” 

Well,” I said to myself after Mr. Oliver 
had left me, this seems like a dream ; not 
yet forty-eight hours in the country and I 
am richer by fifteen hundred dollars than 
when I came.” It was enough to turn my 
mind into the belief that I possessed a super- 
human power. 

During the day I took a carriage and, in 
company with the two gentlemen living in 
the hotel, to whom I had letters of intro- 
duction, I went to drive in the Park.” 
The day was lovely, and everybody seemed 
to be out for an airing. 

The delightful atmosphere and sunshine, 
and the attractiveness of the gayly-dressed 
people gave me a most delightful impres- 
sion of New York. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


45 


My patron, Professor V , had given me 

a letter to Dr. Kuhne, an old professional 
friend residing and practicing medicine in 
New York. On my arrival I had sent this 
letter and my card to Dr. Kuhne, and on 
my return from the drive in the Park I 
found a venerable gentleman waiting to see 
me, who proved to be him. 

He received me very kindly, and said 
he had known my father, and that he was 
glad to welcome his son to New York. 
He said : You must come and dine with 
me this evening, and I will then take you 
to the monthly meeting of the New York 
Medical Society, of which I am at this time 
president.’’ 

I thanked him for his courtesy and said 
I would be glad to avail myself of his 
invitation. 

Dr. Kuhne’s residence was on the West 
End Boulevard, a new street then, but 
now almost solidly built up by reason of 
the satisfactory means of quick transit on 
the West side ” of the city. 

We arrived at the Medical Society’s 


46 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


building some minutes before the opening 
of the meeting. I was introduced to a 
number of physicians as they came in to 
the session. I was shown the great library 
of 50,000 volumes, and also had a rapid 
view of the plans of the new building 
then under consideration, which has since 
been fully completed and occupied for 
several years past and long since freed from 
debt, and having a large income from 
moneys given to the Society by the rich 
money-makers, who had learned what a 
vast benefit this powerful Society was to the 
people and the medical profession. 

The meeting was called to order and the 
subject under discussion was a revival of the 
old one of Vivisection.’’ A paper was read 

by the distinguished specialist. Dr. F , 

and the comments upon it and the general 
sentiment expressed and the quoted opinions 
of some noted English, French, and German 
scientists showed clearly that if a vote had 
been taken it would have resulted in a ma- 
jority against the further pursuit of this 
method of scientific research. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


47 


Towards the close of the session Dr. Kuhne 
brought me forward and formally introduced 
me, giving a brief statement of my right to 
be recognized as a brother physician. 

I was received very kindly by the members, 
and from the body of the house a request 
was expressed that I should make some com- 
ment upon the subject before the meet- 
ing. 

Feeling that I could only be expected to 
recognize this request as a polite courtesy, 
I briefly thanked the assemblage for their 
fraternal greeting and then recorded my 
sentiment in these words : 

Vivisection has developed many truths 
in the science of medicine, at the expense of 
much suffering to the subjects, and of much 
demoralization to the experimenters. Such 
facts as are proven should be accepted with- 
out further duplication of experiment, and 
thus in a measure have respect for the public 
sentiment of the laity and a majority of the 
profession against the practice. In the in- 
terest of true science the practice of vivisec- 
tion should cease, and our energy and skill 


48 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


should be directed to scientific investigations 
less cruel.’’ 

This sentiment was received with consider- 
able applause. 

After the meeting adjourned I was pre- 
sented to many of the members and was 
urged to join the Society, which I did some 
months later. 

I called on Dr. Kuhne the following day 
and asked him to arrange for me the proper 
legal formalities necessary to permit me to 
practice my profession in New York, which 
he did, and I found that the legal right ex- 
tended over the whole state. 

Dr. Kuhne asked me if I proposed to pur- 
sue the general practice of medicine. 

I said, No, I intend only to devote my 
practice to the special treatment of nervous 
diseases and disorders of the digestive organs ; 
though I hope to pursue scientific research 
in the direction of mental disorders. I wish, 
if possible, to conduct all my practice with 
such patients only as I could have come to 
my office.” 

Dr. Kuhne rather discouraged this. He 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED o 


49 


was an old-time physician, familiar with an 
all-round practice of medicine, and he 
thought I might do better and gain more 
fame and monetary reward by following out 
the line of general ;oractice. 

I thanked the old doctor for his kindly 
interest, but I did not explain to him my pas- 
sion for the pursuit and practice of that de- 
partment of medical science which has to 
deal with the influence of the human mind 
by suggestion. 

I believed that it was possible to throw 
much physic to the dogs, and minister to 
the mind distorted. Upon this line I pro- 
posed to set myself to work, with such suc- 
cess as I hoped might come from a potent 
and specific pursuit of the one idea, 

A healthy body may exist with a mind so 
perverted as to make it necessary to restrain 
the person within the walls of an asylum ; 
but, on the other hand, an unhealthy body 
cannot but weaken and distort the mind. 

An unhealthy body or mind I believed 
was often the result of wilful disregard of 
simple natural laws ; therefore I proposed 
4 


60 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


to make both mind and body healthy by an 
appeal to the inner other self by the over- 
mastering power of my mind, then I could 
dictate a course of living for the wilful, which 
I felt sure would bring them within the rule 
of that which would be normal life for them. 
By thus creating these normal rules of living, 
I would supply the one or more elements of 
conduct or habit that would the more per- 
fectly result in producing a healthy body 
and mind. 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


51 


CHAPTER IV. 

A BREAKFAST AND WALK IN THE PARK. 

My first Sunday in New York was just 
five days from the day of my arrival. 

The day was one of those perfectly pure 
and life-promoting fall days, of which we 
see so many in New York. 

I was dressing for an early breakfast, in- 
tending to walk in the Park afterwards and 
enjoy the children and their healthful play 
upon the meadows. 

Just then came a ring at my bell and on 
opening the door I was met by my patient, 
Mr. Oliver. 

Ah, doctor,’’ he said, I have come to 
ask you to go with me to breakfast. I want 
to go up to the Casino, and fearing I might 
eat something that was not in line with your 
advice, and also fearing I might meet with 
some of my Wall Street friends, I decided 


52 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


to take you with me in three capacities^ as 
physician^ protector, and, last but most impor- 
tant, companion, for you know you have 
often told me that good companionship is a 
most nutritious sauce to go with meat.’’ 

I told him of my intended walk, and that I 
was very glad to know that there was a place 
in the Park where we could have breakfast. 

W e were soon ready ; I did not think it 
wise for Mr. Oliver to walk so far without 
food, therefore we took the car on Madison 
Avenue and in a few moments were comfort- 
ably seated at a window in the Casino 
overlooking a lovely view of the ripened 
leaves on the trees of the Park. 

I said, This is a most attractive place ; I 
must come here for dinner some time.” 

Yes, it is a beautiful little house, and a 
most attractive place for ladies and children, 
but under the present management of the 
city, intoxicating liquors are sold here on 
every day of the week, including Sunday, 
and this brings to the place a fast set of men 
and women, and the purpose of the place is 
almost entirely defeated.” 


DAME EOETUNE SMILED. 53 

However true that statement was then, 
now it is very different, for the city has pro- 
hibited the sale of intoxicants within the Park, 
and there are now several such cottages 
where substantial refreshments can be had 
free from the annoyance of fast men and 
women. 

During the breakfast and our subsequent 
stroll among the trees, Mr. Oliver told me 
of a great revival of railway interests in the 
Northwest, as he called it, and said : 

I could make a very large sum of money 
if I could give the manipulation of the se- 
curities in the market my personal attention.” 

He asked me if I thought he could with 
safety to his health give this attention, say, 
for two or three days of the week. 

I said, “ Mr. Oliver, you are now a man 
of some considerable wealth ? ” 

Yes,” he said, might truthfully be 
said to be a very rich man.” 

How much do you think you are worth ? ” 
I asked. 

I saw at once that my question had touched 
a secret and that it was not quite agreeable. 


54 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


SO he said, Well, I could not tell that with- 
out referring to my books.” 

Ah ! true,” I said ; I ought not to have 
asked so blunt a question, but you had asked 
my advice, and my answer was to be based 
somewhat upon the information I asked for.” 

Well, doctor, I do want your best advice, 
but I cannot see how the approximate amount 
of my fortune could have any bearing upon 
it.” 

Let us sit down,” I said, as we approached 
a retired seat. 

I had made a resolution that Mr. Oliver 
should live to be a monument of my treat- 
ment. The case was not an easy one to 
master. Here was a stalwart man, physically, 
who had not until near middle life been 
called upon for any extraordinary action of 
mental force. He had a good education, 
and was a fluent talker, but during the past 
ten years he had lived at a double pace ; he 
had concentrated the work of twenty years 
into ten ; day and night he had struggled 
with dame Fortune ; he had won wealth, but 
he had come out of the fiofht with nerves 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 55 

shattered and mental power much weakened, 
and any undue strain now was likely to prove 
fatal. He had placed himself in my care, 
and I felt the importance of the responsi- 
bility in making answer to his question. I 
knew I had a very important part to play. 

If Mr. Oliver had a large fortune, as I 
supposed he had, then I thought he could 
well afford to let the present temptation go 
by and devote himself to the restoration of 
his health, and therefore it was important 
that I should know the truth, and here is how 
I secured it. 

When we sat down, I placed my hand on 
his, and looking him earnestly in the eyes, I 
said forcibly, Listen to me with your best 
attention, and tell me what is your dearest* 
object in life.’’ 

At once he answered : The happiness of 
my wife and the successful future of my 
children.” 

True,” I said ; your wife has told me 
that she looked to me as the power which had 
restored you to her from what she appreciated 
as a dangerous physical and mental condi- 


66 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


tion. But she did not know how serious had 
been your mental depression. You are 
much better now ; you are fairly on the way 
to renewed health; but to enable you to 
arrive at a condition where you may consider 
yourself safe, you must pursue a very careful 
living. You have, no doubt, a fortune ; how 
much, you do not wish to tell me, and yet if 
I knew I could better say if it were necessary 
for you to take advantage of this present 
revival of railway speculation.” 

I saw now by a relaxation of Mr. Oliver’s 
face that he was coming under the influence 
of my mind. 

He said : Well, if you feel that it is nec- 
essary for my best interest that you should 
know the extent of my wealth, I will tell you.” 

I replied, Yes, I do think it is necessary.” 

He said : If I were to die to-morrow my 
executors would find in my safe deposit box 
ten millions of dollars in securities, which I 
have carefully selected, and from which I 
may reasonably expect an income of five per 
cent ; and I have now in bank ready for use 
in any such movement as I now see coming 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


57 


on something over five hundred thousand 
dollars in cash.” 

To say that I was astonished would hardly 
express my surprise. To me this appeared 
a vast sum of money. 

Why,” I said, this is a princely fortune 
— more money than one could spend in a 
lifetime for the ordinary affairs of life. With 
one-tenth of this sum I believe I could 
advance thousands in this community many 
degrees in the enjoyment of social and do- 
mestic happiness.” 

I said, Mr. Oliver, with this great posses- 
sion of money, you may command any condi- 
tion of life that may seem to your most exalted 
imagination, desirable. You have it in your 
power to so mould the future life of your wife 
and children, and their social environment, 
that you can make them the happiest of 
mortals ; and at the same time you can advance 
the better conditions of many people in so- 
ciology, art, and science, so as to give your 
name a place among the great benefactors of 
the human race in this world. Consider the 
possibilities of your power in the channels I 


58 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

have but hinted at, and you will find a labor 
that will not only fill your mind with occupa- 
tion, but be worthy of your best interests.’’ 

He said: ^^But, doctor, I have been so 
immersed in the affairs of business which have 
given me profit, that I know very little about 
the interests you suggest, and have turned all 
the charities over to my wife. I fear that I 
should make many and serious mistakes if I 
were to attempt to promote science and art 
or put forth any ideas for bettering the social 
condition of the people.” 

This statement convinced me that I had 
my patient under fascination. He entertained 
the subject, and was therefore willing to dis- 
cuss it, and this was a point in my favor, so 
I said : 

You do not quite comprehend my idea. 
I do not propose that you should originate 
conditions for the people ; others who have 
given the subject deep and earnest study have 
done this, and that they may accomplish the 
desired result they want the aid only of money. 
For instance, I have been in New York only 
five days, and yet there has come to my knowl- 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


59 


edge the wants of a most valuable and power- 
ful influence for good, an institution which 
has long existed in this community under 
varied experiences of development, but all the 
time the development has been steadily onward 
and upward, until now they have outgrown 
their present surroundings and seek a new 
building with enlarged capacity and possi- 
bilities for future greatness and the confer- 
ring of future good, not only upon this com- 
munity but the country at large. 

Now here is a single instance, a single 
subject which you can with profit to yourself 
investigate, and if you can be satisfied that 
it is worthy of your sympathy, you can, if 
you wall, aid them with a sum of money that 
would not be missed from your large store- 
house of gold.” 

He said : “ Why, doctor, this institution 
must be one of special attractiveness to you, 
or you could not speak of it with so much 
enthusiasm; are you at liberty to name it? ” 

Yes,” I said; it is the New York Medical 
Society. They have purchased ground, and 
they have plans adopted for the construction 


60 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


of a new building for their library and meet- 
ings.” 

Oh, yes,” said Mr. Oliver, I have heard Dr. 

S speak of this association, but I did not 

know that they wanted money. I will look 
into it and see who of our New York men 
are aiding this work, and if I find it well en- 
dorsed by those who ought to know its right 
to be aided, you shall have the credit of in- 
fluencing me to give a good sum towards their 
building fund.” 

I am glad,” I said, to know that you will 
investigate this society, but you will confer a 
special favor by not connecting my name with 
the matter. No, my friend, make the action, 
if you take any, one which will emanate from 
yourself alone. You will be surprised with 
the very great satisfaction you will experience 
at having taken an interest in a public influ- 
ence; you will feel that you are a part of it; 
it will change the current of your thoughts 
into the realm of the salutary, and this will 
prove of great benefit to you, mentally and 
physically.” 

Mr. Oliver said : Doctor, I think I under- 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


61 


stand the force of your advice, and the cau- 
tion you would set before me, but I cannot 
quite understand why I cannot take my part 
in this speculative deal which is coming on, if 
I delegate the details of management to others. 
Indeed, if it were known that I was not in 
this pool, or that my health was so seriously 
impaired that I could not attend to my busi- 
ness, the deal, I fear, would not go on 
with the same energy, and other interests 
of mine would suffer also, for a number of 
my Wall Street friends look upon me as 
a leader. Tell me again, doctor, with more 
particularity, why I cannot, in your opinion, 
undertake this responsibility ? ” 

Well,” I said, ^^you are a man of courage 
and energy ; you have faith in your convic- 
tions and are loyal to your friends. Possess- 
ing these qualities, and being a man of such 
good sense, I think I can tell you a secret 
about yourself which I discovered on our trip 
over the ocean. I had hoped to carry you 
through to almost perfect health again with- 
out revealing it, but in justice to yourself and 
your family, and to myself, to sustain my 


62 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


advice, I will try to make your mental con- 
dition as it was, and is now, clear to you. 

Your mental equilibrium had been much 
disturbed, and if you had not been able to 
sleep I fear you would have been most se- 
riously affected. Since I saw you first, you 
have had ten nights of refreshing slumber ; 
the food and medicine I have given you have 
brought your nervous system into a much 
more equable working form, and you may 
congratulate yourself that you have secured a 
firm foothold upon the path which will lead 
you to the full enjoyment of your former 
health. But, my friend, you are not out of 
the forest ; indeed, you have but entered it, 
and have only been able to read the direc- 
tions on the finger-board which points the 
safe way to the clear road beyond. Now, of 
this ^ deal’ or ^pool,’ as you term it, I 
know sufficient from my reading the reported 
medical cases about victims of speculations 
in stocks to understand that every movement 
connected with the affair is attended with a 
certain measure of excitement and great 
mental strain. There are ups and downs. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 63 

fluctuations, combinations, and schemes which 
tax the brain fearfully, in a way that you do 
not understand. 

If this management of a ^ deal ’ or ^spec- 
ulation ’ could be conducted with that kind 
of serious plodding which is incident to 
natural brain work, then no bad influence 
would come from it ; but it is the excitement 
and stimulation, the worry, the loss of 
mental equilibrium, that cause all the trouble ; 
then sleeplessness follows, which is almost a 
sure forerunner of mental instability. It is 
not over-work but over-worry that makes 
men insane. Persistent work of brain or 
muscle, with good food and refreshing sleep, 
is far more healthy than idleness. 

If I have made myself clear, you must 
now understand why you cannot undertake 
this ^ speculation ’ alone.” 

^^Yes,” he said, ^^I do understand, and 
now let me say, that you have shown your 
skill in reading my mental condition, for 
there were many times during the period of 
my illness, before I met you, when I feared 
that I was going mad ; and I do not hesitate 


64 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


to say that I was sorely tempted with a desire 
to end my life.’’ 

I said ; I feared as much, and I watched 
you very closely on the ship, for there it 
was that I thought I divined a temptation 
to throw yourself into the ocean. But that 
is past now, and you have entered into your 
old life, before you began the war with 
the fickle goddess, fortune. You have 
beaten her on many a hard-fought field, no 
doubt, and now you had best go on the 
retired list, and, like the old soldier, tell only 
how financial battles were fought and won. 
Let the younger and poorer warriors of the 
Street fight this last battle that you are 
tempted to enter upon.” 

Turning to me, he took my hand in both 
of his and said : Doctor, you are right, clearly 
right, to the very core of this matter, and I now 
solemnly promise you that I will arrange 
this speculation so that I will not be looked 
to as its manager or adviser. But I will 
tell you what we will do. You and I will 
take just a ^ flyer ’ in it, and you shall assume 
all the worry and excitement of it, and I 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


65 


will be the banker. I want to say to my 
friends truthfully, that I am a purchaser of 
the stock, and this I can do if I purchase 
only a few thousand shares. The stock has 
great merit intrinsically, and the boom in its 
price will carry it, upon merit, to a figure 
that will give purchasers a good profit over 
present prices ; but the management of the 
deal will no doubt carry the stock much be- 
yond the meritorious price.’’ 

Continuing, he said : Now, I will tell you 
what I will do. With your permission, I 
will purchase ten thousand shares of this 
stock, for our joint account, and when you 
tliink we have a generous and reasonable 
profit, we will sell and divide the gains.” 

I said : This seems very generous on 
your part, but what am I expected to do ? I 
have no money to make such an investment, 
and I have no knowledge of the subject.” 

“ Well,” he said, with a kindly smile, we 
will try it on this basis : I will act as broker 
and banker, and you shall keep me from 
going insane by taking the worry off my 
mind into yours. This will be your margin^ 
5 


66 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


and I will see to it that you keep it good, 
and that you are not sold out at a loss.” 

I said : If I understand you rightly, 
such an investment as you suggest would 
only be a mere passing event, and would 
not charge your mind with any anxiety ; you 
would simply be a passenger upon a ship 
guided by others, and you take me along 
as a life-preserver. Let it be so, but if by 
chance there should be a large profit, I shall 
insist upon receiving only such proportion as 
my slight service will command, for I know if 
you will but sail quietly on for a few months, 
you will safely land in the haven of renewed 
mental and physical rest.” 

All right, doctor, but you do not seem 
to understand that at the very beginning of 
the trip you have saved me from falling 
overboard from the gang-plank which leads 
from the dock to the ship. You have earned 
a part of your profit before we have come 
to the end of the venture.” 

^^Now,” I said, ^^let us resume our walk. 
But before we leave the subject of your 
health, which is most dear to my ambition. 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


67 


let me ask you to promise that the manage- 
ment of this small investment shall be made 
in your own home library.” 

Doctor, you have my solemn promise 
that I will abide by your advice.” 

Our walk back to the hotel was along the 
crowded Fifth Avenue, a continuous pro- 
cession of people, and all seemed so well 
dressed and in such happy spirits. But, I 
said, how could it be otherwise upon such 
a perfect day as this ? 


68 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER y. 

DINNER AT MR. VON HOFFMAN’s. 

On the first Sunday after my arrival in 
New York, at 6. 30 p. m., I was seated at 
dinner in the very lovely home of my friendsj 
the Yon Hoffmans. 

There were six German and one Ameri- 
can gentlemen present with their wives, and 
one young lady, an American, who sat next 
to me. Louise and Carl Y on Hoffman were 
also present. 

The conversation was carried on partly in 
German, which I felt was a polite compli- 
ment to me, for these guests could all speak 
English ; Mrs . Y on Hoffman and some of 
the ladies were Americans. 

Mr. Y on Hoffman proved a generous, 
jolly, happy host, and told his friends that 
he owed me a grudge for bringing his wife 
back alive, and so much improved in health, 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 69 

that there was no chance now of his becom- 
ing a gay widower. 

W ell/’ I said, you know, we doctors 
can kill as well as cure, and had you but in- 
timated your wish by cable, you might have 
been accommodated ; but now that Madame 
has returned with a new lease of life, and as 
I am promised an opportunity of treating 
you for something which you tell me is the 
misery of your life, she may whisper a word 
of advice in my ear. Madame V on Hoffman, 
I may tell you, was greatly admired in 
Paris.” 

This badinage was received with great 
pleasure by the male guests, for, as I after- 
wards learned, V on Hoffman was very fond 
of joking. 

The young lady at my side was a rare 
beauty, of about twenty-one years of age. 
'She was tall, and very erect, with a well- 
rounded natural figure; she had beautiful 
soft chestnut-colored hair, dark-blue eyes, a 
perfect complexion, and fine teeth. A more 
perfect woman, so far as outward appearance 
could indicate, I had never seen before. 


70 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

That Frances Adams had as fine a mind 
and character as her superb body, I soon 
learned to appreciate. 

In the course of conversation she said : 

Doctor, I feel that I know you quite well, 
and you are in personal appearance just as I 
imagined.” 

Indeed ! ” I said. How does it happen 
that I have been so fortunate as to be thus 
impressed upon your mind? For you must 
know that this is the first time I have heard 
your name or knew of you.” 

Oh ! ” she said, you must understand 
that Mrs. y on Hoffman is my aunt ; my 
home is with her. My father and mother 
are both dead, and I have no brothers or 
sisters, and so it happens that Louise and 
Carl V on Hoffman are my sister and brother 
by adoption; from them and my aunt I 
heard very much of you before they left 
Paris, and as my aunt seems to think it was 
through her influence you came here, she 
has talked a great deal about you since her 
return, therefore we all feel very much ac- 
quainted with you.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 71 

This was most agreeable to me. I said : I 
hope my real personality has not destroyed 
any favorable preconceived ideas of myself.” 

Well,” she said, don’t think you are 
as handsome as your young admirer, Louise, 
would have had me think, but you are quite 
as impressive as my aunt said you were, for 
you are so tall and look so strong that you 
quite overpower one.” 

Ah ! ” I said, I see you have not been 
a close student of human nature, or you 
would not be so impressed by my physical 
largeness. You must know that nature has 
made large men singularly inoffensive ; this 
world has been moved by its small men.” I 
recalled to her the names of the marked 
characters of past history and of those who 
then held power, and showed her that these 
persons were men under average size. 

Miss Adams said: ^^Yes, now that you 
call my attention to the fact, I remember 
that it is true. The battle is not always to 
the strong.” 

I said : Then you will, I hope, under- 
stand that I am quite safe, and that you need 


72 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


not fear to trust yourself to my care, if such 
an agreeable opportunity to me should occur 
to prove what I say to be true.” 

W ell, doctor, I am glad to hear this, for I 
too have been anxious for your arrival and 
to have an opportunity to tell you a secret, 
a professional secret.” 

“ Indeed ! ” I said ; I shall be most happy 
to be the recipient of such a secret from 
you.” 

She said : I mean to call upon you pro- 
fessionally just as soon as I know that you 
have taken your office.” 

I explained that for the present I had 
taken apartments at the Plaza Hotel. Miss 
Adams said she would call upon me the next 
day about eleven, and I told her I would be 
very glad to see her. 

The conversation at dinner was very gen- 
eral, but just before leaving the table we 
drifted into a discussion of the question of 
socialism. I was asked to say what I thought 
of the movement, for about this time there 
was terrible excitement in a Western city 
over the assassination of the city police, in 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


73 


which several had been killed and others 
wounded so badly as to be, no doubt, crip- 
pled for life. 

I said : The madmen who have perpe- 

trated these wrongs are a set of unbalanced 
fanatics, endeavoring to force upon the com- 
munity wild, utopian ideas, and immature, im- 
practicable, and impossible methods of social 
life, and hence they are at war with public 
sentiment. There was not and could not be 
any tangible element in the socialistic ideas 
set forth by some of the German emigrants 
to this country — ^men and women who have 
proved themselves unworthy of citizenship in 
their own land, and who had consequently 
been forced to fly from the hand of justice 
there. They had come here where the laws 
were not so severe against free speech, to cry 
aloud the coming of some Messiah for the 
establishment of what they are pleased to 
call social equality. It is but the wild dream- 
ing of irresponsible minds.” Continuing my 
remarks I said : I have given some study 
to socialism in Europe, and I cannot but 
come to this conclusion, that true socialism 


74 DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 

lies in the promotion of conditions which al- 
ready exist to a higher and better standard. 
Let us, for example, promote sanitation and 
suppress poverty by restricting the influence 
of the liquor traf&c, which is always a de- 
moralizer of society. Let us improve the 
living of the people by carrying them quickly 
to open spaces for their homes in the suburbs 
of the city ; we must encourage moral amuse- 
ments at low rates, so that the masses may 
enjoy them as well as those better off in a 
monetary sense. The establishment of free 
music-stands at several places throughout the 
city would serve a good purpose. Encourage 
physical cleanliness by establishing many 
bathing-places where comfortable rain-baths 
may be had for a nominal price. Let the 
city do this work and thus take away from it 
the atmosphere of charity. Let the govern- 
ment of cities be carried on in the interests 
of all the people, and not for the benefit of 
classes. The elements of social advancement 
exist to-day in a more or less active condi- 
tion; develop them, bring them up to a 
higher and more advanced state, which must 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 75 

include all the people, and you will then, I 
think, begin to see a successful and true 
socialism, free from fanaticism.” 

My remarks were listened to with marked 
attention by every one. 

An old gentleman, who sat opposite me, 
said, when I had finished : Well, doctor, 

that sounds very comfortable, but suppose 
we did these things, would the people be 
happier ? — would they appreciate it ? Are 
they not in the mass a most ungrateful set, 
both to individual and public kindness? ” 
Yes,” I said, I have no doubt of it, 
from an individual standpoint, but not from 
the standpoint of community. No, it would 
be the highest exponent of that truth in 
government — the doing of the greatest good 
for the greatest number.” 

During this conversation I observed that 
Miss Adams had drawn from her pocket a 
paper-pad and pencil, and while I talked 
she was rapidly setting down stenographic 
notes. 

When we were seated in the drawing- 
room after dinner, I said to Miss Adams : 


76 


DAME • FOKTUNE SMILED. 


May I ask the nature of the memorandum 
you were making at the dinner- table ? ’’ 

Yes, doctor j it was your remarks on 
socialism. I am a journalist by profession, 
and I could not let such an opportunity pass 
to capture the opinion of a German on so 
important a subject as socialism, and as your 
ideas are so entirely different and new, and 
much more practical than the blatant non- 
sense we hear, you ought to have a record 
made of your opinion ; therefore, while you 
were finishing your cigar in the smoking- 
room, I wrote out your remarks and they 
will appear in the Watch Tower to-morrow 
morning. I called a messenger and sent the 
notes down to the editor. To-morrow, my 
dear Doctor, you will see this heading in 
the Watch Tower •* 

“ ‘ An Interview by our Special Correspondent 
WITH Doctor , 

who has just arrived in this country. The Doctor is 
a distinguished student of socialism.’ 

Thus you will be interviewed and intro- 
duced to the New York public at one and 
the same time.’’ 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


77 


But, Miss Adams, you have done this 
without a word of consultation. I beg of 
you that you will do me the favor to follow 
your messenger with another, telhng your 
editor not to give my name ; say what you 
like, but suppress the name ; the reason for 
this I will give you at a future time.’’ 

But,” she said, just think what fame 
it will give you, and how I shall be compli- 
mented for my success. Oh, no, we must 
let it stand. The ideas you have expressed 
belong to the people, and you should have 
the credit of expressing them. I trust you 
will not insist upon my making any change.” 

I did not want my name to go forth in 
this way, as I feared it might severely injure 
my professional prospects, and that I would 
not be understood ; but how could I prevent 
it? Here was a forcible young lady, who 
had rushed me into print ; I feared I could 
not prevent it, but I determined to make an 
extraordinary effort and try, if it were pos- 
sible, to bring this lady’s mind under subjec- 
tion to mine, and then dictate new instruc- 
tions to the editor. 


78 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


I drew from my pocket a small trinket, 
which had a number of minute mirrors on it, 
and began to swing it round my finger. At 
once it arrested the attention of my journal- 
istic companion. I looked earnestly into 
her face, and saw that I had commanded 
her serious attention, and so I said very im- 
pressively, Please write a message to the 
editor withdrawing my name from the 
article sent him.” I saw a wavering of 
mental decision, and so I pressed the request 
more fixedly ; her hand passed to her pocket, 
the paper was before her, and in a few 
moments the message was on its way, and I 
was successful. Then I took her to the 
window, which I threw wide open, and the 
cool air did the work of bringing her to her 
normal self. 

She said : Doctor, I am very glad you 
opened the window, for, during the mo- 
ments occupied in sending my second mes- 
sage to the editor, I was so oppressed that I 
felt for the first time in my life that I was 
about to faint.” 

^^Yes,” I said, noticed the change, and 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 79 

hence my opening the window on you. 
You are better now ; the excitement of 
writing your first message^ and then the 
effort of trying to convince me to allow it 
to stand, produced an excitement which for 
the moment caused you to lose mental 
equilibrium. But now, tell me, how do 
you happen to be a journalist, surrounded 
as you are by the comfort of this home? 
You surely do not pursue journalism as a 
profession ? ” 

Oh, yes, I do. I am not rich, like my 
adopted sister and brother. I have a small 
income from my father’s estate (he was Aunt 
Von Hoffman’s brother), and Uncle Von 
Hoffman has made some money for me in 
the stock-market, but this does not deter me 
from my professional work. I believe in 
woman’s work, and if I were ever so much 
better off I should still pursue my work for 
profit. I enjoy it, and have succeeded in 
obtaining entry to the editorial rooms of 
several New York journals. I also write 
letters on many subjects of daily interest 
to journals in other cities.” 


80 


DAME FOETUNB SMILED. 


I said : Permit me to congratulate you 
on your work and the courage of your 
convictions. You shall have my heartiest 
co-operation, and later on perhaps I can 
give you some thoughts which may be of 
interest to your correspondents.’^ 

Just at this moment Mr. Von Hoffman 
approached in company with the American 
gentleman who had sat opposite me at dinner, 
and with whom I had had some conversa- 
tion. 

He said : Doctor, allow me to present 
formally my friend, Mr. Gold ; I want him 
to call on you professionally. Mr. Gold is 
a sufferer, like myself, from the demon dys- 
pepsia.” 

I said : I shall be very glad to have a 
call from Mr. Gold, and will try to be of 
service to him.” 

Mr. Gold was a small man, apparently 
about sixty years of age, keen-eyed, with an 
evident highly nervous temperament. He 
sat down by me and asked many questions 
about Bismarck and some of the prominent 
men of Germany and France ; he seemed to 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 81 

be anxious to know what progress had been 
made in the greater comfort for passengers 
on our European railways. I was not posted 
on this subject, but I remarked that some of 
the railway companies had introduced the 
American system of sleeping-cars on their 
roads; this had been a great comfort to 
those who were compelled to travel at night. 

He said : I am very glad to hear this, 
for I am talking of going to Europe on my 
steam-yacht, and I also wish to travel on the 
Continent somewhat ; I want as much com- 
fort as possible, for my health has not been 
good for a long time.’’ 

I told him that such a trip would no 
doubt be of very great service to him, but it 
might be well to consider whether it was 
best to spend the winter months on the Con- 
tinent or in some climate further south ; that 
this could only be determined by consulta- 
tions with his physicians.” 

He said: Well, doctor, I will first hear 
what you have to say about it, after you 
have heard my story ; I will come to see you 
in a few days.” 


82 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Our conversation was interrupted by an 
invitation from Mrs. V on Hoffman to accom- 
pany Miss Adams to the music room. 

On the way she remarked that, as I was 
a German, she supposed I was a lover of 
music and could play upon some instru- 
ment. 

Yes,’’ I said, I can play a little on the 
piano; possibly I can play your accompani- 
ment if you will sing.” 

She said : ‘‘ I shall be very glad to have 
you do so, for I have a slight pain in my arm 
this evening. I should be most uncomfort- 
able if I tried to play ; besides, it is easier to 
sing with an accompanist.” 

She sang several German and American 
ballads, and her voice showed marks of care- 
ful training and loyal study. It was a pure 
soprano. 

When she ceased singing, I played for her 
some of Beethoven’s music, and I could see 
that she was much moved by it ; tears stood 
in her eyes, her sympathy was most pro- 
found. I felt that the future held a friend- 
ship for me with this lovely girl that might 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 83 

possibly fulfil my ideal of congenial comrade- 
ship with a woman. 

As we were on our way back to the draw- 
ing-room she said : Doctor, I must thank 
you for an interpretation of Beethoven, 
which is more perfect than any I have ever 
heard before. You have touched a sym- 
pathetic chord in my nature, for the divine 
melody, that I did not think existed. May I 
hope that at some future day you will play 
for me again ? ’’ 

Yes,’’ I said, I shall be most happy, 
whenever the opportunity presents.” 

During the evening I learned that all of 
the German gentlemen present were members 
of a German musical society, of great in- 
fluence in the city, and that they had been 
deeply impressed by my remarks on the sub- 
ject of giving free music to the people. 

They asked me if I would not attend a 
meeting of their Society, to be held in a few 
days, and then give a more extended state- 
ment of my ideas on the subject. 

I said that I would be very glad to do so. 

The evening had passed so delightfully 


84 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


that I was surprised to find it was so late 
when we came to say good-night. 

Mr. V on Hoffman said he would walk bach 
to the hotel with me. On our way he told 
me that Mr. Gold was a prominent railway 
owner ; that his power in the “ Street ” was 
very great ; that his wealth was fabulous, and 
his ambition to accumulate seemed to have no 
bounds, but his illness from time to time was 
most serious ; that, like himself, he was a 
great sufferer from dyspepsia, or, at least, his 
physicians had said that this was his trouble. 

Perhaps,” I said, they may have made 
a mistake. From my rapid observation of 
him, I am inclined to think that his illness 
proceeds from an entirely different cause, 
that his indigestion is only incidental to, or 
the result of sympathy with, the greater 
wrong. But I am only guessing ; we will see 
about it if he should decide to come to 
me.” 

V on Hoffman said : Oh, you may be 
sure he will come, if he said he would ; and 
my wife has told him of your successful 
treatment of her case in Paris. The very 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


85 


novelty of having the advice of a new physi- 
cian will certainly take him to see you.’’ 

I said : When he comes he will find that 
I am a novelty indeed, for I shall not attempt 
to treat him unless he will absolutely con- 
sent to be obedient to my advice. I have 
set one rule for myself which I mean to pur- 
sue in my practice, and that is, not to treat 
any one simply for money. My passion, my 
ambition, and my whole mind are wrapped up 
in a resolve to better the condition of hu- 
manity, whether it be the individual or the 
many ” 

W ell, doctor, you have set a high mark 
for yourself, and you have my most earnest 
sympathy, but I fear you will not make your 
practice as lucrative as you might wish ; you 
will not be a money-maker.” 

I said : No, possibly not, but I hope to 
act the part of a true scientist. The great 
Agassiz said, when asked why he did not 
improve his opportunities to make money, 
^ I have no time to make money.’ But do 
not misunderstand me ; I know the value of 
money, and I should be most happy to pos- 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


sess millionsj for nothing would give me 
greater pleasure than to spend it in the in- 
terest of the less fortunate persons we find 
on every hand.’’ 

V on Hoffman said : I fear you have 
some ideas which would give you a great deal 
of trouble and annoyance if you were pos- 
sessed of these millions. You may congrat- 
ulate yourself on your inability to act.” 

I said : No, I would find no annoyance 
in this matter, for I should put the respon- 
sibility of expenditure upon those who make 
a profession of doing for others. I know 
there must be institutions in this country, as 
in every country, under the management of 
those who understand this distribution of 
wealth in the form of beneficence. These 
institutions should be my agents, as they 
should be of every man who proposes to give 
back to the people a part of the money he 
has accumulated from them in the course of 
his business. 

Many who have made a personal effort to 
distribute their surplus money for the benefit 
of public or private charity have been sadly 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 87 

disappointed in the accomplishment of their 
heart's desire. 

The distribution of gratuity is a science, 
and cannot be successfully performed by one 
ignorant of its peculiar elements of manage- 
ment.’' 

This is a new thought to me,” said Mr. 
V on Holfman, and is worthy of the most 
earnest consideration ; it seems reasonable, 
and would no doubt be the true solution of 
the problem — for problem it is. 

But now, doctor, let me ask your atten- 
tion to a selfish matter of a more personal 
character, namely, to this old stomach of 
mine, with which I have a great many dis- 
agreements.” 

W e had now arrived at my apartment, and 
asking Mr. V on Hoffman to sit down, I made 
a searching investigation. His symptoms 
all pointed to a nervous irritation, which 
caused his painful headaches, and frequent 
loss of sleep in the early part of the night. 
His sleep seemed to be one of exhaustion 
rather than the normal reaction of the body 
and mind seeking rest. 


88 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


I said : You, no doubt, force upon your 
stomach the digestion of foods in excess of 
the demand for nutrition ; these foods 
are not perfectly changed into nutriment 
and are forced forward as refuse, from 
which comes reflex irritation causing headache 
and loss of sleep.” I said : The treatment 
of your case must be one of experiment. 
We will have to discover the foods which 
you can most easily digest, and yet give you 
the largest percentage of nutrition. 

As a first experiment we will select the 
most perfect and simplest of foods — milk — 
and to this we will add, before it is taken 
into the stomach, an element of natural 
digestion. Let us begin our experiment to- 
morrow.” 

I then gave him medicine which I thought 
would stimulate natural digestion, thus 
bringing him into a receptive state for treat- 
ment. 

I said : That we may hope for a perfect 
influence from this medicine, and get the 
best results from the food, you must cease to 
use alcoholic liquors of all .kinds, and your 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 89 

use of tobacco must be limited to one cigar 
after dinner.’’ 

Why, doctor, your system is a complete 
revolution of my daily habits. I fear I shall 
have a serious fight with myself if I attempt 
to carry out your treatment.” 

True, it is a revolution, only in another 
direction. Your trouble arises from the 
revolt of nature against your forcing work 
upon your system which it cannot perform ; 
and the conflict causes the nervous irritation 
which has been the foundation of all your 
misery. Instead of the ^ demon ’ being in- 
digestion, the influence for wrong has arisen 
from your ignorantly forcing upon your 
organs a work which they cannot perform, 
and hence their refusal to act. 

Your natural physical condition is such 
that you may reasonably expect normal 
health, and I will guarantee you perfect 
relief, if you will consent to follow my 
directions. It is not so much a case of 
medicine, as the adoption of a system of 
living that will be in accordance with your 
ability to digest and assimilate.” 


90 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Well, doctor, I will give the matter my 
most serious attention, and will try to come 
under your direction.” 

I also gave him some medicine which 
would secure a more perfect night’s rest. 

He thanked me for my attention and bade 
me good-night. 

After a week’s trial of my advice, Mr. 
Von Hoffman came to my office and said : 

Doctor, you have captured my everlasting 
confidence, for I have had the best week of 
living and sleep that I have had for years ; 
you are making a new man of me.” 

During the conversation, I said to him : I 
hear that you are a very successful banker. 
I have a small sum of money which I would 
like to put into some profitable investment. 
Can you help me in the matter ? ” 

He replied that he would be delighted to 
do so, that he knew of a railway stock that 
was coming to the front, and there would be 
a movement in it that he felt sure would give 
purchasers a good profit in a few months. 
He named the stock. I recognized it as the 
same one which Mr. Oliver had told me 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 91 

about during our last conversation — the one 
he had taken the flyer ” in for our mutual 
account, as he stated it. So I told him I 
would be glad to have him invest in that 
stock if he thought it would be a safe place 
for my money. 

Oh ! there is no doubt of the safety of 
this investment. Indeed, it has so much 
merit that I shall purchase as much of it 
as possible in proportion to the money you 
deposit with me, using it as a margin, as we 
call it in the Street.” 

margin ! ” I said ; pray what is that ? ” 
It is a security which a dealer in stock 
deposits with his broker or banker to indem- 
nify him against loss in the event of the 
stock — which the principal purchases or sells 
— going against him in the market.” 

Oh, yes,” I said ; I understand. Well, 
as this stock wiU, as you say, greatly advance 
in price, the five thousand dollars which I 
now give you will ^margin ’ or secure you, 
if I should order you to make a purchase for 
my account of a large number of shares? ’’ 
Yes,” he said ; five thousand dollars 


92 DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 

will in this case margin a large purchase. I 
can take up and carry for you at least five 
thousand shares, and as this stock will certainly 
advance in the next ninety days at least 
fifteen dollars per share, you see you would 
be able to make a very handsome profit.” 

Very well,” I said ; I leave this whole 
matter in your hands, only you must under- 
stand now, that there may be a time during 
this period of ninety days, when I may ask 
you to sell the stock, but if I do you must 
not ask me to give a reason for my action. 
I am guilty at times of some very unreason- 
able actions — in the opinion of others.” 

All right ; your instructions shall be the 
law, and no questions asked. One question, 
however : Am I to understand that this five 
thousand dollars is all the money you 
have ? ” 

No, I have just fifteen hundred dollars 
besides. Then, you know, I have my profes- 
sion and brains, which must be rated at 
1 100,000 more, for I expect this coming 
year to make $6,000 as fees ; this will be 
six per cent upon the sum I have named.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 93 

^^Well, doctor, you have a novel way of 
measuring your wealth. I should prefer to 
have the $100,000 in cash; but we will try 
and see what we can do towards making it a 
reality. Now, just one question more : Your 
friend Mr. Oliver is largely interested in 
railways connected with this road in the stock 
of which I propose to make the investment 
for you. He will most likely be largely 
interested in this deal. Have you heard him 
mention this railroad, and do you think he 
is well enough to take any interest in the 
deal?” 

Of course,” I said, you must under- 
stand that my relationship with Mr. Oliver is 
purely professional, consequently, very con- 
fidential, and that it would be very improper 
on my part to reveal his confidence upon any 
subject. But, my dear Mr. Von Hoffman, 
you have treated me with such kindness, and 
have shown your confidence in me so fully, 
that I feel I can trust you when I say that 
Mr. Oliver told me about this railway ^ deal ’ 
and said that he meant to take a small in- 
terest in it.” 


94 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


I saw at once that this was very pleasant 
news to my banker, and he replied, with 
much impressiveness of manner : Oh, 

doctor, you may rely on me, that in no 
particular shall your confidence in me be 
abused. I tell you, my dear doctor, I will make 
that information worth fifty thousand dollars 
to you, and as much more to myself.” 

I said : I do not understand these matters, 
and I do not mean to try, but if through 
your skilful management you succeed in 
making me so rich as to be the possessor of 
$50,000, I shall look upon it as magic. 
Now, as we are exchanging confidences, let 
me give you a further one, and ask a favor.” 

Go on ; I shall be delighted to serve 
you,” he said. 

First, I want you to promise me that 
you will not by any possible mischance men- 
tion to any member of your family, or to 
any other living being, that you have made 
such an investment for me — that my name 
shall not appear upon your books. I can- 
not now, and may never be able to explain to 
you the reason for this, but it is my wish.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


95 


V on Hoffman said : But suppose any 
accident should occur to me ? ” 

I said : I will take this chance ; only do 
this : enter upon your books a credit to me 
of five thousand dollars deposited. The 
stock-purchase you can make in any 
name you please but mine. Second : Your 
niece, Miss Adams, will call to see me pro- 
fessionally. You are surprised? I think it 
is only a small matter, a slight muscular 
strain ; she will soon be relieved. In the 
course of our conversation she told me that 
she was your ward, and that you had money 
invested for her. I cannot tell you why she 
told me this, unless it was to show me how 
happy she was in the enjoyment of her pro- 
fessional life as a journalist, and that she was 
independent of the necessity of weary toil, 
such as many women have to endure who are 
thrown upon their own resources in this 
world. Now, this is the favor I have to ask, 
not for myself, but for her : I want you to 
purchase railway stock in this ^ deal ’ — at 
least five thousand shares for her — and give 
her the sole benefit of the profit; but it 


96 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


must never be known that I suggested 
this.’’ 

Why, doctor, you are most kind ! It 
shall be done. We will give our dear Frances 
a fortune. I am so very glad that you have 
spoken of her in this connection, for I might 
not have thought of her ; and I am delighted 
that you have been so favorably impressed 
with my niece that you should remember 
her interests in such a substantial manner.” 

I said : Miss Adams has deeply impressed 
me with her superiority, and I shall be glad 
to be of service to her in any way.” 

I could see that there was a passing 
thought in my friend’s mind, that my esteem 
for his niece was of a more serious nature, 
and I said to myself : Let him think so, 
if by chance it will serve her interest 
better.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


97 


CHAPTER VI. 

FRANCES ADAMS CALLS. 

In accordance with her promise, Miss 
Adams did call on me for professional 
advice. 

I found that at times she was troubled 
with a severe pain in her right elbow ; that 
more frequently this pain came on in the 
night after her first sleep, and was always 
accompanied by pain in her head. 

Upon investigation, I discovered that she 
had been, during the past summer, an active 
tennis-player, and at the close of the season 
of out-door play had taken part in a tennis 
tournament, and in one of the games had 
unfortunately given her arm a wrench, 
which resulted in a strain of the tendons of 
the large muscles. Her trouble is known 
as tennis elbow.” It was her habit to sleep 
on the right side, with the right arm bent 
7 


98 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

under her head ; this, of course, brought the 
muscles and tendons into a constrained posi- 
tion, and caused the pain, which in turn, by 
reflex irritation of the nerve centre in the 
brain, caused headache and loss of sleep. 
The relief was easy ; it required that the 
muscles should receive treatment by massage, 
and the application of a stimulating liniment. 
I gave her instructions how to make a paste- 
board sleeve to be worn over the elbow at 
night to prevent involuntary contraction of 
of the muscles. 

It was during the treatment of the arm 
that I discovered, in answer to my questions, 
that my patient was almost free from pain. I 
also discovered that she was a very suscepti- 
ble subject to mental suggestion, and that I 
had developed in her the wonderful evidence 
of ^^the second self,’’ which had been so 
clearly demonstrated in subjects by Prof. 
V in his Paris hospital. 

In my patient’s case, the second self began 
to speak to me of her normal self, saying, 

Doctor, do you know what Frances has 
said of you ? ” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 99 

No ; what has she said ? ’’ 

She has said that you are the most genial 
of men ; that you exert an influence over 
her such as she has never experienced before, 
and that it is difficult for her to restrain her 
desire to show her admiration for you.” 

I asked : And what answer have you 
made to Frances’ comments on the doctor? ” 
Why,” she said, laughing, I told her 
that you were wedded to that mystery called 
science, and that I feared you would not re- 
spond to her admiration, but she said, ^It is 
my pleasure to give him my admiration, and I 
do not care whether he responds to it or not.’ ” 

I felt that the conversation was becoming 
too personal, and so returned my patient to 
her normal self. 

After she had fully recovered from her 
abnormal condition, I led her to speak of 
her profession. She told me of her ambi- 
tion ever since her school days to become a 
writer. Her first effort was on a novel, 
treating of social life. She offered the 
manuscript to several publishers, who re- 
fused it. Then she called, with a letter of 


100 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

introduction, on the editor of a leading 
metropolitan weekly journal, and offered it 
as a continued story for the weekly issue. 
This editor received her kindly, accepted 
the story, and paid her what she then thought 
was a generous compensation. 

But what was better than acceptance of 
the story, was his offer to give her employ- 
ment as a writer on social events. That 
was her first step in the experience of jour- 
nalism. She had been a regular contributor 
to the paper for two years, and through 
the influence of her editoral friend had 
been admitted to the sanctum of several 
other newspapers. She was also a constant 
contributor to the leading daily journal 
called the Watch Tower, 

‘‘ So, you see, doctor,” she said, I am 
a full-fledged newspaper woman. I have 
my profession, and hope some day to take 
a leading position ; for, from a mere writer 
on social events, I have attempted report- 
ing and the writing up of various subjects 
of political and domestic economy, and, as 
you well know from personal experience, I 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


101 


let no opportunity pass to get the very 
latest ideas of leading thinkers on all sub- 
jects of the day. But I cannot understand 
why you did not allow me to use your name 
in the article on Socialism I sent to the 
Watch Tower on Sunday evening.” 

I explained that I had a morbid dread of 
public notoriety, especially in connection 
with subjects beyond the province of my 
profession ; but in this special case I said 
that I wanted her to have the full reward 
of having secured an item on one of the 

isms ” of the day. 

She said : This is a new experience for 
me ; I find that every one in these times who 
has a fad or an ^ ism ’ to ventilate, desires 
first of all to have his or her name appear 
before the public.” 

I said I hoped in the future to bring be- 
fore the public some novel ideas, but I did 
not propose that the public or even the jour- 
nals who might accept them should know the 
author. 

But how do you propose to accomplish 
.so novel a result as this ? ” 


102 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

I said : I have, I think, a friend who is 
very closely allied with several journals, and 
through this friend I hope to be success- 
ful.’’ 

‘‘ Indeed ! I did not know that you knew 
any newspaper people here,” Miss Adams 
said. 

Do I not know Miss Frances Adams, a 
distinguished New York journalist?” 

^^Do you mean to honor me with your 
confidence in such important matters ? ” she 
asked. 

Yes, I intend to ask you to honor me 
with your influence in placing before the 
public some thoughts which I propose to 
put forth ; but you need not treat them as 
matters of very great importance.” 

She said : Oh ! I shall be only too glad 
to have the opportunity. Let us begin now ; 
give me a dictation and I wiU write out the 
matter and submit it for your approval.” 

No, not now ; but if you will accompany 
me this evening to an informal meeting of 
the Gluck Musical Society, I will give you 
the opportunity of writing out some views 


DAME FOETIJNE SMILED. 103 

on a subject most dear to my heart — the 
establishment of free music for the public.’’ 

She said she would consider it a great 
favor to be permitted to do this, and so it 
happened that on the following day this 
item appeared in the Watch Tower, 

An Important Musical Movement, 

At an informal meeting of the Gluck 
Musical Society last evening, a distinguished 
German gentleman spoke upon the moral 
influence of music upon the people of large 
cities. 

He said : ^ The onward successful march 
of communities in refinement has always 
been marked by the growth of music. The 
more musical a people are found to be, just 
in proportion do we find them further ad- 
vanced in refined civilization. If New 
York could have, during the day and even- 
ing, a number of free musical entertainments 
open to all classes of society, we should, I 
think, see a large reduction of crime and 
the prompting to better living among those 
who would come under its influence. 


104 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


^ As a rule, musical entertainments are 
made too expensive ; only a select few can 
avail themselves of the pleasure, and hence 
a vast number of people are excluded. If 
the city would take up this matter, and 
establish music halls at various points with- 
in the most densely inhabited districts, and 
arrange these entertainments so that the 
very poorest family could attend them, we 
should see a marked influence for good. 
These musicals should be under the manage- 
ment of influential musical societies, such 
as this.* 

The idea was not an entirely new one, 
save in the outline of a practical plan upon 
which to carry it out. A resolution was 
passed by the society appointing a com- 
mittee to look into the matter and report at 
the next meeting. 

It is now well known to those living 
in New York, that for several years past 
the city has fostered the ideas I advanced 
at that meeting, and we now have many 
‘ city music halls,’ in which free music 
may be heard. The cost to the city is not 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 105 

over 1 100,000 per annum, but the cost of 
crime has been reduced more than twice 
this sum, so that my then utopian ideas 
have proved to be practical and have re- 
sulted in the promotion of metropolitan 
economy. 

The old saying, that ^ music hath charms 
to soothe the savage breast,’ has been proven 
in a remarkable manner.” 


106 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER VII. 

MR. gold’s proposition. 

True to his promise, Mr. Gold, the gen- 
tleman I met at Mr. Yon Hoffmanns, did 
call on me, about ten days after I first met 
him. 

His story was the old one, told by all over- 
worked men who deal in affairs of life which 
bring into play the emotional nature ; he 
was a victim of anxiety, sudden information, 
plans laid involving great risk of capital, 
watching for events of doubtful occurrence, 
night work preceding the ordinary retiring 
hour, — all of which may be summed up in the 
two words ‘^nervous strain.’’ 

After hearing Mr. Gold’s story and care- 
fully considering all his symptoms, I said : 

Your case is one which I would undertake 
only upon condition that you give up and 
retire from your present occupation of mind. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 107 

You must give up personal contact with your 
affairs and keep away from the people and 
scenes at this time surrounding you. You 
have said that you were going away on your 
yacht. This is the very best move you can 
make, and it cannot be too soon. You 
should put your affairs in proper shape, to 
leavo with your legal representatives.” 

But,” he said, I cannot go for some 
time yet ; there are some important matters 
which must have my personal attention — say 
for sixty days — then I shall be able to sail 
away.” 

The delay,” I said, is dangerous to 
your future health, unless during this time 
you will consent to a system of living which 
will prepare you for your pleasure trip. I 
fear that if you do not have rest of brain 
and perfect nutrition of body, when you 
do go away the reaction of suddenly letting 
go your business affairs will lay you up with 
a serious nervous prostration, and instead of 
your trip being one of pleasure and recrea- 
tion, it will be one of anxious illness.” 

He said : I will allow you to dictate my 


108 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

living in preparation of this season of rest. 
What do you advise that I should do ? 

In the first place, you must change your 
diet from the light food you have been tak- 
ing to a more substantial nutriment, and then 
you must take more physical and mental 
rest. This we will try to accomplish by giv- 
ing you more sleep. Then you must remain at 
your home until noon each day, taking a 
nutritious lunch before going to your office. 
I would prefer that you did not go at all, but 
if you must, then I urge upon you to make 
the visit there for only a very short time. 
Then come to your home and with compan- 
ionship take a drive in the Park. Have an 
early dinner, and do not transact any business 
whatever during the evening, retiring as 
early as nine o’clock. In the morning before 
you rise, take a glass of hot peptonized milk, 
afterwards a tepid sponge bath and a gentle 
massage by an expert.” 

He said : This seems like a very reason- 
able system, but what about the kind of food 
that I should eat ? ” 

I told him that he must have hot peptonized 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 109 

milk and whole-wheat bread for breakfast, 
raw oysters for lunch, beefsteak and whole- 
wheat bread for dinner. On going to bed a 
glass of hot beef juice, to which I would add 
a medicine to aid in giving normal sleep. 

^^But you do not allow me potatoes or 
other vegetables, or sweets of any kind.” 

No, not at present. The starchy foods 
and sweets have caused the most of your in- 
digestion, which in turn made reflex nervous 
irritation and then loss of sleep.” 

^^But, doctor, loss of sleep has always 
been in the first of the night. I cannot get to 
sleep easily ; when I do I sleep fairly well.” 

I said : I will try to overcome the early 
wakefulness in this way: You must sleep 
alone in a room removed from noise or pos- 
sibility of disturbance from any member of 
your family. Eor the first few nights I will 
come to your home, and after you retire will 
aid you in going to sleep by the medicine I 
will give and the soothing influence I may 
exert.” 

He said : We will enter upon this treat- 
ment at once. I would like you to come to 


110 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


my house to-night and let me see if you can 
close my eyelids down in sleep and drive out 
of my mind the annoyances incident to my 
business affairs.’’ 

That night I went to his house about 8 
o’clock and was introduced to his wife and 
two sons. He told me that he had surprised 
his wife by coming home at 4 o’clock and 
asking her to take a drive in the Park. He 
had not done such a thing for six months. 

Yes, doctor,” his wife said ; ^^and he in- 
sisted upon getting out of the carriage and 
going over to the tennis grounds to see some 
young ladies at play. I wish he would come 
home every fine day and take a drive, for it 
has done him so much good.” 

I said : I think he will do so if you insist 
upon it.” 

I noticed that there was a grand piano in 
the room, but from some ornaments set up 
on it, it looked as though it had not been 
very frequently used. I' said : 

You have a very fine piano, Mrs. Gold ; I 
suppose you are fond of music.” 

Yes, I am very fond of it, but we only 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. Ill 

open the piano when we have company, and 
that is not often, for Mr. Gold is so busy, 
and I do not care to have company unless he 
can join us and enjoy our friends. As you 
are a German, I take it there is no need to 
ask if you are fond of music.” 

Yes, I make the most of every oppor- 
tunity I have to hear fine music,” I said. 

Do you play ? ” Mrs. Gold asked. 

“ Yes,” I said, a little.” 

I should be so glad to have you try our 
piano.” 

Immediately she began to remove the bric- 
a-brac on it, assisted by one of her sons, who 
opened the piano for her. 

I thought I saw a shade of annoyance pass 
over Mr. Gold’s face, but as I was anxious 
to have the music play a part in my treat- 
ment, I sat down and began some very or- 
dinary melody. 

I asked Mr. Gold to take a seat facing 
me, that I might see how my music impressed 
so hard a worker ; this he did. 

I then gradually changed the familiar 
strains into some low plaintive music, soft 


112 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

and gentle, possessing the nerve-soothing 
influence I wished it to have upon him, and 
in a few moments his whole expression 
changed. I saw that his mind was letting 
go the tangled skeins of his daily life. He 
was first pleased, then interested, and when 
I stopped, he asked me to go on. I looked 
at his wife ; tears stood in her eyes, she could 
not speak. I played on for some time longer. 
When I rose from my seat, Mrs. Gold said : 

I never heard such music before. You 
must indeed be a great student of this 
science.” 

I said I had given a good deal of atten- 
tion to it, but I also had a natural love for 
music, and therefore it was not so difficult 
for me to study as it is for many others who 
simply adopted music as an accomplishment. 

I hope we may hear you play often in 
the future,” Mr. Gold said. 

I said I would be glad to play for them 
when opportunity presented. I then said 
to Mr. Gold, that his hour for retiring had 
come, and if he would send for me as soon 
as he was in bed I would come to his room. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. . 113 

Mrs. Gold went out with her husband. 
When they were gone the older son said: 

Doctor, I have sat here and watched father 
with astonishment ; do you know this is the 
first time I have ever seen him listen five min- 
utes to anybody's music. W e cannot get him 
to stay an hour at the opera, and as for con- 
certs, he will never go. He sometimes at- 
tends the theatre and will stay to the end of 
the play if it is amusing, but will not listen 
to anything that is at all tragic." 

I said : This shows that he has good 
discrimination, but you will, I think, see a 
marked change in his habits of life very 
soon, and of the right character." 

Mrs. Gold came in just then, and said 
that her husband was ready to receive me. 
She preceded me to his room in the rear of 
the house. 

I found him in bed, which was so arranged 
that it stood opposite a gaslight. 

I gave him a very simple nerve sedative, 
and then, turning the gas down quite low, I 
went to his bedside and began talking to 

him in a quiet voice, at the same time pass- 
8 


114 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

ing my hand gently over his forehead, and 
telling him to keep his eyes fixed upon the 
gaslight. In a very short time his eyelids 
began to droop, and soon I noticed that he 
was asleep. I gently placed him on his right 
side, and then turning out the gas and open- 
ing slightly a window, for fresh air, I left 
him. 

I met his wife in the hall; she had been wait- 
ing for me. I gave her a signal of silence, 
and we then descended to the parlor. I told 
her Mr. Gold was sound asleep, and that I 
thought he would not awaken during the 
night, if the house were kept quiet ; and that 
I would call about nine the next morning. 
She was evidently much surprised to learn 
that he was asleep, for she said he rarely 
went to sleep before twelve or one o’clock, and 
that this habit had existed for a year or 
more. She thought I must be having some 
remarkable influence over him. 

I said : Oh, no, the drive this afternoon 
and the quiet at home this evening prepared 
his mind for a good rest and he will get it.” 

The next morning I went as I promised, 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


115 


taking with me an expert masseur. Mr. 
Gold was still in bed, awake and anxious to 
see me. 

He said : I have been watching for you, 
for I want to tell you that I have had a good 
night, and am ready for the rest of the treat- 
ment.” 

I told the nurse to carefully follow out the 
instructions which I had previously given. 

Then I said to Mr. Gold : Do not fail to 
leave your office early and take a drive in the 
Park, partaking of a plain dinner, such as 
I have suggested, and at nine o’clock I will 
come in and give you the same treatment 
you had last night. I feel sure your sleep 
will be just as perfect as last night.” 

I kept up this same treatment for ten days, 
and at the end of that time Mr. Gold told 
me he was a hundred^ per cent better in 
every way,” and that all of his nights were 
now passed in refreshing sleep. 

It was about three weeks after my first 
visit to Mr. Gold that he came one evening 
to my rooms at the Plaza and made me the 
following proposition. 


116 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


He said , I am now able to say that 
through your skilful treatment, and my 
obedience to your advice, I am ready to go 
on my foreign trip. My affairs are all in 
good condition to leave with others. I 
think I can stay away until next April, pos- 
sibly longer, but I want to make up a party 
to go with me, and 1 have come to ask your 
advice on this point. I may say that I pro- 
pose taking my wife and younger son. I 
would like to have you go with me in a pro- 
fessional capacity, and if you will do so, 
should wish you to suggest two other persons 
to go with us.’’ 

I was much surprised at this most re- 
markable proposition and said that I 
hardly knew how to answer him ; that 
I had come to New York for the purpose of 
practicing my profession ; that I was in doubt 
as to the advisability of my now going 
away, just as I had begun to make some 
valuable professional acquaintances. 

He said : How much do you expect your 
practice to be worth to you for the next five 
months ? ” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


117 


I told him that I hoped it would be worth 
at least $500 a month, which would he most 
satisfactory. 

Well,” he said, ^^we will consider that 
you will make that amount and more if you 
will go with me, and that it may be mado a 
certainty, I will now agree to make it twice 
that amount. I will deposit with your 
banker five thousand dollars, and all your 
expenses shall be paid while on this trip.” 

I said : This is a very generous offer, 
and one I feel I ought to accept, but let me 
think it over until to-morrow evening, then 
I will give you my final answer.” 

All right, but remember that you must 
also name two other persons to go with 
us.” 

I told him that I feared this was the most 
difficult part of the problem, but that I would 
see what I could do. 

That evening I called on my friend Yon 
Hoffman, and told him of the proposition 
which Mr. Gold had made. 

He exclaimed *. My dear doctor, you are 
in great luck. Of course you must accept 


118 DAME EOKTUNE SMILED. 

this proposition ; his selection of you for this 
trip will^ give you a lasting reputation, not 
only in this city, but over the whole country, 
and when you come back, you can take a 
position as a physician second to none in 
reputation. You must go. I will take care 
of your interests while you are away. By 
the way, have you seen how much your 
railroad stock has advanced during the past 
two months ? ’’ 

I said no, that I had been so much oc- 
cupied with some scientific investigations, 
that I had almost forgotten about it. 

He said : I bought for your account 
5,000 shares of that railroad stock at $20 
per share, and it is now selling for $30. 
You could sell out to-day at a profit of 
$50,000.’’ 

This was, indeed, a marvellous surprise to 
me, for I had never hoped to be able to say 
that I was worth so much money. 

I said : “ This is more money than I had 
ever expected to have ; would it not be well 
for me to realize the profit ? ” 

Von Hoffman said : You know, doctor, I 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 119 

promised to sell this stock whenever you 
said the word, without question, but if I 
were in your position, I would not do so now, 
for this reason : you may not know that 
the largest purchaser of this stock is Mr. 
Gold, and he, it is said, is the person who is 
managing the deal. He has announced to 
those who have made it public that he is 
going away, and it is well known by a 
certain set of men, who are in his confidence, 
that his orders are out to take all the stock 
that is offered. Gold will be advised of 
every movement of the market affecting 
this stock, wherever he may stop during his 
trip. He may give orders to sell during his 
absence, but it is not at all likely, for the 
road is an important one and growing in 
value daily. It is under good management 
now, its traffic has greatly increased, and it 
is said a dividend will be paid on the stock 
by January next. 

‘‘ Now, let me give you a point. If 
while you are away you could find out from 
Mr. Gold any information as to his manage- 
ment of this deal and could advise me in 


120 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


confidence of his instructions to his brokers 
here, I could then act for you, myself, and 
for Frances. For you must know that I have 
acted upon your suggestion and I am carry- 
ing for her 5,000 shares of this stock. Up- 
on your information would depend the mak- 
ing of a fortune for yourself and Frances, 
and it would also enable me to make a hand- 
some profit. 

And besides, there is your friend, Mr. 
Oliver. You could no doubt serve him; but 
this might be unnecessary, for I believe 
he is in Mr. Gold’s confidence in this mat- 
ter. 

Possibly you think that it would be a 
breach of good faith on your part to use con- 
fidential information which you may obtain 
from your patient, but let me say that you 
need have no compunctions of conscience on 
that score, if the information is not com- 
municated to you in confidence.” 

I said : I will accept Mr. Gold’s prop- 
osition to go with him, but as to the railroad 
matter, I will not act unless the information 
should come untrammelled to me ; I accept 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


121 


your suggestion not to sell the stock before 

I go. 

But now I want you to help me select 
the two persons to join this party ; they ought 
to be persons who know Mr. Gold and his 
wife and who would be congenial to them.” 

Mr. Von Hoffman said that was too 
much for him, but that he would call Madame 
and ask her advice. When Madame Yon 
Hoffman came in I explained the matter to 
her. When Madame understood the situa- 
tion she said : 

am not able to name two persons, 
but I do wish that Frances Adams could 
be one of the two.” 

Ah ! ” I said, that solves the problem ; I 
can now name the other. We must have 
Miss Adams and your daughter Louise ; they, 
with Mr. Gold’s family, would make a very 
delightful party, one which would be all for 
pleasure and would turn Mr. Gold’s mind 
almost entirely from business.” 

After many suggestions it was finally 
arranged in this ' way, that I should name 
Louise, and advise that Miss Adams should 


122 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

be employed as Mr. Gold’s secretary and 
amanuensis. 

Miss Adame was not at home ; she, with 
Louise and Carl, had gone to see some English 
actors at Palmer’s,” and so I left a message 
for Miss Adams with Madame V on HofPman, 
asking her to call on me the next morning. 
I said : Please, do not say a word to her as 
to our plans ; let me suggest the idea to her.” 

The next morning Miss Adams called on 
me. It was a grand day, clear and cold, 
but with a royal sunshine, just the day for a 
long walk. 

On coming in, she said : W ell, doctor. 
Aunt Von Hoffman said that you wished to 
see me. To what new purpose shall I be 
indebted for the honor of calling on the 
great man of science. Have you another dis- 
sertation on the philosophy of life? You 
have no idea what a sensation your last 
communication on Nationalism has created ; 
everybody is asking our editor who his cor- 
respondent is. I fear I cannot much longer 
keep you in the dark. Why will you not let 
me announce your name. Even the editor 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


123 


of the Watch Tower, my friend and patron, 
is growing restless at the concealment of ^ my 
correspondent.’ ” 

I said : The time has not yet arrived for 
me to give my name to the public. I glory 
in the mystery which enables you to learn 
that it is a woman’s natural power, far be- 
yond a man, to keep a secret that is worth 
the keeping ; and then it is a much greater 
pleasure for me to know that you are gaining 
the importance of originating new matter 
and novel thought for the readers of the 
Watch Tower, But you will not be 
troubled for a long time by inquiries as to 
the source of your ^ utopian ’ writings. I 
have sent for you to say that I am going 
away on a long voyage, at least for five 
months.” 

Miss Adams looked into my face for a 
few seconds with genuine surprise, and then 
rising from her chair, she walked over to the 
window, and for more than a minute she re- 
mained silent, looking into the Park ; then 
she turned and said, with some effort to con- 
ceal her feelings : Did you send for me to 


124 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


announce this interesting piece of news ? 
Do you wish the fact noted in the jour- 
nals?” 

Oh, no,” I said, I have a much more 
important purpose. I want your advice and 
aid in a matter connected with the trip I am 
about to take.” 

My advice ! My aid ! ” she said, resum- 
ing her seat. Why, doctor, I do not 
understand ; please explain this mystery.” 

I said : “ I will tell you all about it, but 
first I want you to favor me with your society 
this morning, for a walk, if you are not 
under engagement with your editor to-day. 
Can you go ? ” 

Yes,” she said, I will go ; but where do 
you propose to walk ? ” 

Through the Park to Mount St. Vin- 
cent, where we can take lunch and then walk 
or ride back, as may seem most agreeable to 
you.” 

Miss Adams said : The day is too lovely 
not to accept so tempting an invitation. At 
what time shall we go ? ” 

We will start at once. It is just eleven 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


125 


o’clock, and we will arrive there just in time 
for lunch.” 

On our way through the Park we talked 
of books, science, philosophy, health, and a 
host of subjects, save the one which was 
uppermost in my mind, namely, my desire to 
have her as a companion on the yachting 
trip. I thought I saw, by a slight abstracted 
manner, that the thought which was upper- 
most in her mind was the subject of my con- 
templated journey. 

I could see that she wanted to ask me 
when and where I was going, but her deli- 
cate sense of propriety forbade her obtruding 
the question in the face of other matters of 
conversation which I pressed upon her. 

After our lunch I again referred to my 
going away and said: You do not seem 
enough interested to ask me anything about 
my proposed trip, and its purpose ? 

She said : Why should I do so ? In my 
short acquaintance with you I have learned 
to wait for your statements ; but you said 
you wanted my ^advice and aid.’ What 
do you mean by that ? ” 


126 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Then I told her of Mr. Gold’s proposition, 
and said : You are a woman with more than 
an ordinary development of that sense which 
is peculiar to your sex — intuition. I now ask 
for your advice, whether it will be wise for 
me to accept or reject the proposition.” 

Her face grew a shade paler and her eyes 
sought the window, near which we were 
sitting, with that far-away look, such as 
comes into the eyes of those who seem to 
have the power of prescience. In a few 
moments she turned and said : 

Why, doctor, I cannot understand yet, 
why you should ask my advice. What dif- 
ference can it make to you if I say. Yes, go ; 
or. No, do not go ? ” 

A great deal of difPerence. You know 
from the ideas which I have dictated to you 
as a journalist, the purpose of my ambition 
in the pursuit of my profession ; you must 
also understand that to further my work and 
be enabled to carry out my ambitions, I 
must have money and position. By my 
service to Mr. Gold on this trip I can 
obtain quite a large sum of money, but, 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


127 


better still, I gain an enviable professional 
notoriety, which would give me great prom- 
inence. 

‘‘ Now kindly bring your woman’s intuition 
to bear upon this matter, and as a friend, 
for whom I bear the very highest regard, 
tell me, is it best for me to gain this pro- 
fessional notoriety and money, quickly, or 
stay here and work quietly for the same end, 
which I may gain later ? ” 

Her answer came slowly and thoughtfully : 

Yes, doctor, I understand ; I appreciate 
your regard and confidence ; your ambition 
is worthy. I cannot but say, yes — go.” 

“ Thank you,” I said ; I am now decided : 
I will go.” 

But, doctor, one thing I want to ask : 
do you really mean to say that, if I had 
said no, do not go, you would have accepted 
my advice as final, and remained here ? ” 
Certainly,” I said ; I should have relied 
upon your woman’s wit to point out the 
best for me.” 

Into her eyes there came tears, tears which 
only suffused their brightness for a moment. 


128 DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 

I could see a slight blush, and, with it, the 
expression of pleasure which so often lighted 
up her beautiful face. 

After a moment of* evident effort to con- 
trol herself, she said : Doctor, I thank you 
for your confidence. I hope I have said the 
right thing for your best interests.’’ 

I replied : I am sure of it, as you will 
see when I return.” 

^^But,” she said, ^^you also wanted my 
aid as well as advice.” 

^^Yes, I do want your aid to make the 
trip a success.” 

Indeed ! how, pray, can I do that ? ” 

Then I explained that Mr. Gold had 
given me the right to name two persons to 
join the party, and I wanted her to help 
select these persons. 

Oh ! doctor, how can I do that ? I do 
not know anyone very well who knows Mr. 
Gold’s family, save Aunt Von Hoffman, — 
but I do so wish that Louise could be one of 
the two ; she is a favorite with Mrs. Gold 
and would be a good companion for Willie 
Gold.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


129 


I said: You have named one of the two 
persons who can go, and who will, no doubt, 
be acceptable, and now I will help you name 
the other, — ^yourself.” 

What, me ! ” she exclaimed. Oh, no ! 
I cannot think of it ; I cannot, cannot go.” 

^^Why not,” I said. 

Oh ! a thousand reasons. I have my 
work ; I must earn my way in life. Why, 
doctor, you know I am but a poor journal- 
ist, a breadwinner! No, no, it is impos- 
sible! Besides, Aunt Von Hoffman would 
not consent.” 

On the contrary,” I said, in a consul- 
tation with your aunt and uncle last even- 
ing, over this trip, she said, ^ I do so wish 
that Frances could go. ’ So, you see, it is 
her desire, and all that now remains to con- 
summate this matter is your consent that I 
may name you and Louise.” 

Doctor, you overwhelm me with your 
request. You forget that I cannot afford 
such a trip.” 

Oh ! as to that, we will arrange it in 
this way : I will suggest that you go 

9 


130 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

I 

in an official capacity as the journalist of 
the party, as the private secretary of Mr. 
Gold. I do not wish him to take his usual 
secretary with him, and I do not want him to 
write his own letters ; this for a professional 
reason. I want him to have as much mental 
rest as possible, and hence I do not want him 
to have a secretary with him who is familiar 
with his business and to whom he will talk 
of his home affairs. He must have entire 
change of scene and thought, and knowing 
you can aid in this matter, I want you to go 
with us and be my assistant in many ways. 
Come, now, say you will go.” 

‘‘ I must have a little time to decide. I 
will have to talk it over with my aunt and 
my journalistic connections.” 

^^Are you under special contract with any 
of the journals ? Do they pay you a fixed 
compensation ? ” I asked. 

She said : ‘‘ Oh, no, I am not complicated 
in that way ; I am free to act my own sweet 
will, so far as they are concerned, but cour- 
tesy to them demands that I state the case.” 

No,” I said, I would avoid that ; put it 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


131 


in this way. Say you have a tempting offer 
to go abroad, and that you will write journal- 
istic letters to the papers from time to time, 
but do not say with whom you are going. 
On the day you sail you can send hack by 
the pilot a letter, which they can publish in 
connection with the fact of the departure of 
Mr. Gold, and let them tell the public that 
they will have a special correspondent with 
the party, etc. This and nothing more. 
Now, as to your aunt, she will consent, 
for she has already suggested your name.” 

But, doctor, if you had this talk with 
Aunt V on Hoffman last evening, why did she 
not speak to me about it this morning ? ” 

Why ? Because I asked her not to do 
so ; I wanted the pleasure of telling you all 
about it, and of having you personally give 
me your consent that I might name you as 
one of the party.” 

She said : How can I ever thank you for 
this?” 

Do not try to thank me ; only give me 
your aid, as you have your advice, by say- 
ing you will go.” 


132 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

You have arranged this whole matter in 
such an attractive form, that I do not see 
very well now how I can say anything else 
than yes. But how do you know that Mrs. 
Gold will be satisfied with Louise and my- 
self?” 

I said : I do not know that she will, but 
the first step in this matter was to obtain 
your consent to suggest your name ; now we 
will see further, how the matter can be con- 
summated as I wish. And now may I ask, 
if you are happy in the anticipation of five 
months of outing in the Mediterranean and 
in the Indian Ocean ? 

^^Yes, you may ask the question, and I 
can answer, not only happy, but charmed.” 

I said : I think Mr. Gold will be influenced 
by my judgment as to the climate in which 
to spend the rest of the winter and spring. 
We will go to Algiers, Tunis, Rome, and to 
Egypt and many other of the oriental show 
cities, then come north into the German 
Ocean and take a quick run over Europe. 
I think I will be able to lay out our 
routes from first to last ; but let me ask you 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


133 


as a special favor not to mention any place 
in advance of our visit.” 

Oh, you may be sure of that. But I am 
so happy in anticipation of the trip and 
visiting all these places you have named, 
that I fear to express myself lest some 
accident or change of plan will prevent my 
going with you.*’ 

With me ! Oh, no, you are going 
wdth Mr. Gold. I shall only take second 
place in the party. The court' physician, 
you know, is never called on except for pro- 
fessional service.” 

Oh ! don’t misunderstand me ; when I 
said ^ you,’ I meant the plural, to cover tho 
whole party.” 

Ah ! ” I said, laughing, you must for- 
give my vanity.” 

She said : Do you really think Mrs. Gold 

will be satisfied to have me as one of the 
party ? In such closo quarters as a yacht, 
you know, people should be very congenial 
and have much in common to talk about and 
sympathize with. Five months shut up in 
the same box on the sea, or in close 


134 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


quarters on land, will try one’s character 
with regard to charity, patience, and good 
temper.’- 

I said : Mrs. Gold is a very kindly woman, 
devoted to her husband ; she is most anxious 
for his return to health ; she appreciates 
more fully than he, the serious strain he has 
been under, and she has seen him vastly im= 
proved under my treatment, therefore she 
believes in me, and would endure me for this 
reason, if for no other. As to yourself, she 
will endure you for the help you will be to 
Mr. Gold. As for Louise, Mrs. Gold will 
no doubt be delighted to have her as a com- 
panion for herself and her son, Willie. I 
imagine they will be great friends. Besides, 
I mean to establish such a system of read- 
ing, music, and exercise, that the time will 
pass quickly, for you know occupation is one 
of the secrets of happiness.” 

I haven’t any doubt the time will pass 
quickly; only too rapidly, I fear,” Miss 
Adams said. 

Oh, no, I shall arrange that also. I 
intend to play the part of the disagreeable 


DAME FORTTJNE SMILED. 135 

old doctor and make the surroundings 
occasionally unpleasant, so that we may have 
the proper quantity of reflex action in our 
social conditions.” 

I am sure you will not he successful in 
the last idea. I don’t think you could make 
yourself disagreeable, not even if you tried, 
from a professional standpointo You know 
you have said many times in your dictations 
to me, that your ambition was to make 
people happier in this world.” 

I said: ^^Well, you know we all have 
theories, but they will not always bear the 
test when we come to close quarters.” 

She said : If I did not anticipate any 
more serious unpleasantness than yourself, I 
should feel quite secure, but I fear there 
will be other associations which will be far 
more trying, and that I shall have to curb 
my surplus vitality. But I can put up with 
a good deal that may be unpleasant — even 
the ^ doctor,’ when I remember what a grand 
trip it will be. I shall be able to see so 
much that is lovely and beautiful and grand 
in art, music, and literature ; indeed, it is 


136 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


likely to be the fulfilment of a long-cher- 
ished dream I have had.” 

My dear Miss Adams, all that you have 
dreamed shall be made a reality, if I have 
any influence to bring it about.” 

We had now arrived at the end of our 
walk, and leaving Miss Adams at her aunt’s 
I said I would call for her and Louise in 
the evening to go with me to Mr. Gold’s 
home, when I would give him my final 
answer. 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


137 


CHAPTER VIII. 

MR. OLIVER CALLS ON ME. 

W HEN I entered my parlor at the hotel, I 
found my friend and patient, Mr. Oliver. 
He seemed glad to see me, and said : Doctor, 
I have heard of your good fortune.’’ 

Good fortune ! ” I said ; I do not under- 
stand you.” 

Yes, Mr. Gold and myself are quite 
close friends and associates in business 
matters. He has taken the control of the 
railroad I spoke to you about, and has 
arranged for the purchase of the stock, which 
had been a good deal scattered. Upon a 
close investigation made by one of our ex- 
perts, we discovered that this road was well 
built and well equipped, and by the construc- 
tion of ten miles more of railway, a connec- 
tion could be had which would add greatly 
to the value. We now propose to purchase 


138 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


the stock and hold it as an investment, and 
after the ten miles of new road are built, we 
shall make a reorganization on a more profit- 
able basis. While this is being done, Mr. 
Gold is going away, and he told me that he 
had invited you to accompany him ; this is 
what I mean by your good fortune. I have 
come to urge you to go. If you have any 
doubt about the wisdom of the trip, let me 
assure you that the reputation you will make 
by his selection will be of much benefit to 
you in your future practice. Gold will also 
appreciate your services in a monetary way ; 
he is a quiet, cold, reserved man, so far as 
the public know him, but I know him to be 
a warm, kindly-hearted, generous man, who 
will do anything for a friend who trusts him. 

He has the greatest regard for you — says 
you have saved his life, and is loud in your 
praise. He will make your fortune and give 
you a professional status, by selecting you 
for this trip, that years of toil alone could not 
bring, and I hope you will accept Mr. Gold’s 
proposal.” 

“Yes,” I said, “I have given the matter 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 139 

much thought, and I think it is a most 
fortunate professional opportunity. I shall 
call on Mr. Gold this evening and accept 
his proposal.” 

Mr. Oliver said : “ I am very glad to hear 
you say that ; and now I will tell you about 
my own plans. I am now so well that I 
can plainly see what a fool I was making of 
myself by trying to do all the work which 
came to my hand ; and not only that, but I 
was seeking to do more ; I was mastered by 
the passion of money-making. I am now 
determined to be wise and try to have some 
enjoyment of life. It is to you, doctor, that 
I owe my future life and whatever of com- 
fort I may get out of it. My meeting you 
on the ship was the turn in my affairs which 
made it possible for me to live and enjoy my 
family and fortune. I have adopted your 
philosophy, that life is worth living if it can 
be Hved in the enjoyment of health. And 
now I want to tell you that I, too, have con- 
cluded to go to Europe and secure the en- 
joyment I lost by not being well, when I 
went over last summer.” 


140 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


I said : Oh ! I am very glad to hear this. 
You will take your wife ? ’’ 

Yes,” he replied, ^^and two of our chil- 
dren. My oldest son will remain here in 
college.” 

W ell, you must spend the most of the 
winter in southern Europe,” I said. 

Yes, I have arranged to meet our friend, 
Gold, in Europe. I shall leave here on the 
French steamer which sails two weeks from 
to-morrow. And you, when do you go?” 

I do not know, but suppose it will be 
arranged this evening, when I communicate 
my decision to Mr. Gold.” 

I told Mr. Oliver that Mr. Gold had asked 
me to name two companions for the voyage, 
and that I should propose the names of Mr. 
Von Hoffman’s daughter, Louise, and also 
Miss Frances Adams, who would act as the 
journalist of the party. Do you think they 
would be agreeable to the Golds ? ” I asked. 

Mr. Oliver said : Agreeable ! why, 

certainly; Mr. Gold is very fond of Von 
Hoffman’s family and he knows Miss Adams. 
She has interviewed him several times, and 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


141 


when he wishes to say anything to the public 
in the newspapers, he always does so through 
Miss Adams, if possible. I know Mrs. Gold 
also ; she is a wise, most discreet and at- 
tractive person, with a great deal of tact 
and good sense. Oh ! yes, indeed, this com- 
bination will work admirably and be most 
agreeable to all. 

And now, doctor, one word as to your 
personal interests. You remember that two 
months since, I told you that we would take 
a ^ flyer ’ in the R. T. Railroad stock. 
Well, I bought for your account and my 
own 10,000 shares, and paid for them. I will 
carry 5000 shares for you, and when you 
come back I will arrange the matter in such 
a way that you can either have the stock 
that the profit on it will purchase, or you can 
have the money, if you have a better use for 
it. 

Your friend V on HofPman has also been 
a buyer of this stock, and you may tell him 
of the future plans of Mr. Gold and myself 
as to the reorganization, etc., but please say 
to him that the information is for himself 


142 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

alone, and must not be told to a living soul. 
There are only a few parties who understand 
our plans, and you may say to him that he 
will no doubt be named as the banker 
through whom the reorganization will be 
made later on. 

Let me tell you one other piece of in- 
formation, that I think will be most agree- 
able to you. You remember speaking of the 
New York Medical Society, and their new 
building. Well, I investigated this society 
and afterwards sent them $25,000 for their 
building fund, and I also succeeded in getting 
two other friends to contribute quite as 
much.” 

Why, Mr. Oliver, I am overjoyed to hear 
this. How can I ever show my appreciation 
of your great benefit, conferred upon this 
most worthy cause ? This will ensure the 
immediate construction of the building, and 
next fall we will no doubt see it in place. 
As regards myself, I do not understand 
quite why you should choose to act so gen- 
erously towards me in regard to the stock 
matter. I did not suppose you really in- 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


143 


tended to make this such a serious affair. 
You put me under too great an obligation to 
you ; how could I ever hope to repay you ? ’’ 

Repay me ! ” he said, why, doctor, did 
you not save my life ? I consider that a pay- 
ment in advance of a much greater sum than 
the price of this stock, so say no more about 
obligation. 

Gold and myself have talked you over, 
and we mean that you shall have a fortune 
in money, so that you can pursue your pro- 
fession as a pleasure and not as a drudgery. 
You have labored for years to learn how to 
be of service to others, and now you ought 
to have a recognition in a substantial way 
from those who can afford it and for whom 
you have done so much. 

And now I must say good-bye ; I will call 
on you to-morrow and find out what will be 
your day of sailing.” 

After Mr. Oliver had gone I sat for a long 
time in deep thought. My experiences since 
that night when I called on Mrs. Von Hoff- 
man at her hotel in Paris, up to this day, 
now about three months, seemed almost like a 


144 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


dream. Could it last? Will there not come 
a reaction that will force upon me a reality 
that will dissipate the dream and leave me 
only the stern duty of professional life ? I 
reviewed the few facts of my three months’ 
hfe in connection with my American friends, 
and summed them up as follows : 

Nearly three thousand dollars had been 
paid to me in cash from patients and other 
physicians for consultations. 

I had written several articles for public 
print which had been placed by Frances 
Adams, my name being withheld because the 
subjects were not professional. 

I had addressed the Gluck Musical Society 
on the subject of free music for the public ; 
I had also spoken before the N. Y. Medical 
Society on the value of hypnotism as a 
therapeutic agent. Without the asking, a 
friend had made an investment for me, which 
he declared would make me rich in money ; 
this investment had also a possibility of fail- 
ure, therefore I did not charge my mind 
with it, although there seemed a large profit 
at this time. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 145 

I had succeeded by very simple but firm 
and loyal treatment in recovering the health 
of three valuable and influential men of 
affairs. 

I had in all my cases where I could with- 
out exciting suspicion, used the power of 
mental suggestion, with a success far beyond 
my most sanguine expectations. 

I felt that I had the most earnest regard 
(tending towards a deeper feeling) for the 
most perfect type of womanhood I had ever 
met, and I knew that my heart’s deepest feel- 
ing of tender regard had gone out to her 
and that I must love her. I had begun to 
fear that she might stay her feelings for me 
just outside the line of admiration and re- 
gard, and now I was likely to be yet more 
closely associated with Frances Adams for 
five months or more. Would this compan- 
ionship secure her to me ? The future alone 
could answer that question ; but I determined 
that I would let no opportunity pass to im- 
press myself favorably upon her heart and 
mind. 

I made this resolve, however, that I would 
10 


146 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

conceal my own feelings until I felt perfectly 
sure that she loved me, and this I felt I could 
discover from her second self, at a proper time, 
during our voyage, if I chose to exercise my 
power over her. 

And now, last but most surprising to me, 
I was about to take a long sea-voyage with 
a very influential man and his family, as 
their professional adviser, for which I had a 
large compensation assured to me, and yet 
greater possibilities favorable to my future 
medical practice. 

Surely, I had every reason to be glad that 
I was alive, and possessed of a profession 
which had wrought such magic for me. 
Much power had been given me which I 
could exercise for the good of others, which 
in turn must bring great benefit to myself 
and those I loved. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


147 


CHAPTER IX. 

THE VOYAGE ARRANGED. 

According to my promise I called in the 
evening for Louise Von Hoffman and Miss 
Adams, to go with me to Mr. Gold’s house. 
I also invited Mr. and Mrs. Von Hoffman 
to go with us, which invitation they gladly 
accepted. I wanted their support and co- 
operation in my plans. I found the young 
ladies greatly excited over the possibility of 
the trip, but I said : 

You must be exceedingly careful not to 
betray your feelings until after I have spoken 
to Mr. and Mrs. Gold.” 

This of course they promised to do, but fear- 
ing they might not, I gave them a most earnest 
warning and exerted my mental influence of 
control upon them to such an extent that they 
appreciated the importance of the diplomacy 


148 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


I wished to exert. This I did while the V on 
Hoffmans were preparing to go with us. 

After we were in the street Miss Adams 
said : Why, doctor, you have made me so 
serious that I feel like one going on a sad 
mission, rather than a happy one.” 

I said: ^^You may see the importance of 
being serious and not anticipating too much, 
for our plans may not be successful, there- 
fore, I would not have you experience the 
misery of disappointment. But,” I said, look- 
ing her straight in the eyes ; 

If you and Miss Louise are not accepted 
as the two companions for this voyage, I shall 
not consent to go. I shall try, however, to 
manage this interview, so that you and Louise 
wiU be invited to join the party without my 
suggesting your names. We must be wise 
and hope for the best results.” 

On arriving at Mr. Gold’s house we found 
him with his wife and children waiting to 
see me. They were much pleased that Mr. 
and Mrs. Von Hoffman and the young 
ladies had accompanied me. 

After some minor conversation, Mr. Gold 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 149 

asked me to walk into his library. As soon 
as we were inside the door, he said : Now, 
doctor, I am anxious to know your decision ; 
are you going with us ? ” 

I told him that I had not had much diffi- 
culty in deciding for myself, but the selection 
of companions had not been so easy. I said 
that I did not suppose he would care to have 
any other males than his son and myself, so 
my mind had turned in the direction of seek- 
ing companionship for Mrs. Gold. How 
would it do if we were to have some young 
ladies with us ? They would be of service to 
your wife and son, indeed to all of us, by mak- 
ing the party a bright and happy one, through 
their youthful life and pleasant companion- 
ship.” 

He said : Why, this is just the thing ! Let 
me call Mrs. Gold and we can advise with her 
as to this suggestion.” 

As she came into the room she said : My 
dear, if the doctor has not already suggested 
the two companions for our voyage, let me 
present an idea.” 

No,” Mr. Gold said, he has not named 


150 DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 

any one as yet ; ’’ and turning to me asked if 
I had thought of any one especially. 

I avoided answering the question by say- 
ing to her : I have just suggested to Mr. Gold 
that we consult your comfort in the matter 
and make the companions persons who could 
be congenial to you, say, two young ladies.” 

Mrs. Gold said : Oh, I am very glad of 
that, for I have just asked Mrs. Yon Hoffman 
if she would be willing to have Louise go 
with us ; but she feared the dear girl would 
be too much of a care for us. I am sure she 
would not be, and for my part I would like to 
have her very much. I think Mrs. V on Hoff- 
man will consent. I should also be glad to 
have Miss Adams go with us ; she is a lovely 
girl, and you know her very well. Louise 
would be a companion for Willie, and Frances 
would be my companion.” 

Mr. Gold said : W ell, doctor, what do you 
say to this ? ” 

I said : That is a good combination ; I 
could not suggest a better plan.” 

Mr. Gold said : W ell, my dear, you may 
try to so arrange it.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


151 


She left the room much delighted. 

My plans could not have worked better. 

After Mrs. Gold left the room, I said : 

Miss Adams is a stenographer and journal- 
ist.” 

Yes,” he said, I know her quite well ; 
she has reported me several times. She is 
able and most discreet.” 

Oh, indeed ! then I have an idea to suggest 
that may meet with your approval. It is this : 
I should like your mind to be as free from 
business as possible on this trip ; if you take 
your secretary with you, as you have inti- 
mated you might do, you would have a person 
so familiar with your affairs that you would 
be constantly tempted to talk with him about 
business matters. Your mind wants real rest 
and change ; leave your secretary at home 
and supply his place with Miss Adams ; make 
her your amanuensis.” 

Mr. Gold said : That is a good idea ; let us 
have her in here and talk it over.” 

I went out to the parlor and spoke to Miss 
Adams, and she came into the library with 
Mrs. Gold. 


152 DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 

Mrs. Gold said : Mrs. V on Hoffman has 
consented to let Louise go with us, and I have 
also invited Miss Adams, but she fears you 
would not like to have a newspaper reporter 
on board.” 

Mr. Gold said : On the contrary, I have 
sent for Miss Adams to ask her to go with us 
in an official capacity, as the journalist of the 
party, as my amanuensis and your special 
companion.” 

Mrs. Gold said : Miss Adams, will you not 
accept this threefold position, as well as a 
fourth, that of general companion to us all? ” 
Mr. Gold,” Miss Adams said, I never 
hoped for such a great pleasure, but is there 
not some one else you would rather have and 
who deserves this opportunity more than I ? ” 
No, no. Miss Adams, no one ; you must 
consider yourself appointed journalist of the 
^Veda’.” 

Mr. Gold said : And now, doctor, what 
do you say to the arrangement ? ” 

I am delighted. You now have a party 
of friends, well known to each other and 
most congenial — all save myself ; I am the 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 153 

only stranger. But I will promise not to in- 
trude too much upon you all, for I shall take, 
with your permission, some personal and 
special companions for myself.” 

Indeed ! ” said Mr. Gold, and who will 
they be ? ” 

“ Books , I said. I have some reading 
which I have long neglected, and as you will 
grow tired of seeing a doctor constantly, I 
shall be able to shut myself from sight with 
my companions.” 

Mrs. Gold said: “No, doctor, you must 
not do that ; you must enjoy the trip. You 
know enough now ; you have done nothing but 
read books for years, now you must have a 
play-time, like myself. You must keep Mr. 
Gold company by taking some of the medicine 
you prescribe for him. In this direction I 
want you to kindly do me a favor.” 

“ I shall be glad to do so, only name it.” 

“ I have left word at C bickering’s that a 
friend would call and select a piano for the 
yacht, and I should be glad if you and Miss 
Adams would go there to-morrow and make 
the selection and order it sent to the ^ Veda’. 


154 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

Miss Adams, will you also make out a list 
of light reading matter for us all, and 
have it sent on board ? You see,, I am begin- 
ning to make use of you in your official capa- 
city at once.” 

W e both promised to attend to these com- 
missions. 

^^And now, Mr. Gold, when do you pro- 
pose to leave ? ” I asked. 

He turned to his wife and said : My dear, 
when can we go ? ” 

She replied : I can be ready in a week 
from next Monday.” 

We went back to the drawing-room and 
laid out the programme once more to the 
Von Hoffmans, who were delighted with it. 
After we had had some music, we started for 
home. 

On our way back. Miss Adams said : 
“ Doctor, you are a magician ; you make 
others do as you will.” 

Oh, no,” I said ; this whole matter has 
been arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Gold, as I 
hoped it would be.” 

But did you not so will it ? ” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


155 


Oh, no ; I only hoped, and set the out- 
lines, leaving the inner space to be filled by 
others. Are you not glad it has turned out 
as I hoped it would, and that you have been 
invited by Mr. and Mrs. Gold without my 
making the suggestion of your names ? ” 
Yes,’’ she said, I am very happy, and I 
feel that, for my part, I owe it all to you.” 

^^Well, nothing would give me greater 
pleasure than to know that I have the 
power of contributing to the happiness of 
others, and especially to that of Louise and 
yourself. Shall we go to-morrow morning 
and select the piano?” 

“ Yes, I will be ready at any hour you 
name.” 

I have some engagements at my rooms 
in the early morning, and I will consider it a 
favor if you will call for me on your way 
down.” 

We parted at Mr. Von Hoffman’s house, 
I taking home with me the memory of two 
very happy faces. 

Mr. Von Hoffman walked back to the 
hotel with me, and I told him the plan which 


156 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Mr. Oliver had stated relative to the rail- 
road, and that he had said I might tell him 
about it. 

He was much delighted with the informa- 
tion, and said he would keep it sacredly 
secret. He said : I will protect our pur- 
chases and be ready for the advantage of the 
reorganization when it comes.” 

I said : Mr. Y on HofPman, cannot you 
get away in the spring and run over to 
Europe and meet us in Paris or Berlin. I 
shall try in April or May to have our party 
go to these places, as I shall want to see my 

mother and my old friend. Professor V , 

in Paris, before I return.” 

Possibly,” he said, but I could not go 
for some time yet, for I have just arranged 
with my partners to withdraw from the firm 
on January 1st ; after that it will take some 
time to settle up our business and arrange 
my own banking house, and put Carl, my 
son, in charge ; then I shall be free. In 
April or May I might go over and spend the 
summer in Germany among some of my 
old home friends and relatives.” 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 157 

‘‘ This would be very agreeable/’ I said, 
and we should all be so glad to meet over 
there. Mr. Oliver is also going to Europe, 
and if we could all meet, say in Berlin next 
April or May, we could have a grand time. 
I hope to have a great surprise for you then, 
one that will be worth coming all the way to 
Berlin to enjoy; that was my home, you know, 
and there I could in my mother’s house 
make some return for the generous hospi- 
tality you have all extended to me here.” 

He said : W ell, we will hope that it may 
be so arranged. I have many friends in 
Berlin, and your mother may possibly re- 
member me, for I once knew her slightly. 
Your father I knew very well ; we were at 
Heidelberg together, and once crossed swords ; 
this slight wound on my cheek is an early 
record of his skill in surgery. But after 
that skirmish we became great friends. I 
left Germany early in life, and it is now many 
years since I have been there. It will give 
me great pleasure to look over the old scenes 
of my youth. But I must now say good-night; 
I have kept you up very late.” 


158 DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 

No/’ I said, not too late. It always 
gives me pleasure to hear you speak of the 
dear home people and my father. I was 
very devoted to him, and he was most deeply 
interested in my professional success. I 
made some experiments and discoveries while 
in Paris, and my father was so delighted 
with them that he frequently wrote me 
letters of congratulation, and urged me to 
devote myself to study and to pursue the life 
of a scientist, which I did during his lifetime, 
and would have been glad to pursue it but 
for the necessity of practicing my profession 
as a livelihood.” 

But, doctor, after you return from this 
trip, you will be at liberty to pursue both 
professional work and science at your pleasure, 
for you will have the means sufiB.cient at 
hand to do so.” 

I hope it will be true, for if all turns out 
as we hope, I shall be enabled to carry out 
my ideas for the building of a private hospital 
for the treatment of nervous diseases.” 

How much would such an institution 
cost ? ” Von Hoffman asked. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 159 

Oh, I cannot tell ; we will talk it over 
on my return. I have, however, seen a site 
that fulfils my idea ; it is located — but I 
must dismiss this now and wait until I have 
the money to carry out my ideas.” 

He said : Let it rest for the present, but 
formulate your plans and we will try to carry 
them out on your return ; ” and with this last 
word of encouragement he left me. 


160 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER X. 

A MORNING WALK. 

My first visitor the next morning was 
Mr. Oliver. It gave me much pleasure to 
see him, not only socially, but professionally. 
His face, figure, and movement showed clearly 
his return to normal health, and this was a 
very great satisfaction to me. 

Mr. Oliver said : Well, doctor, have you 
finally decided to go with Mr. Gold ? ’’ 

Yes,’’ I said ; we sail a week from next 
Monday. All is arranged, and the young 
ladies go with us. As I had hoped, Mr. 
Gold invited Miss Adams to go as our 
journalist.” 

He said : This is delightful ; we shall 
meet in Europe, for I too shall go over very 
soon, as I have told you.” 

I said : I am glad that you will go, for 
you were one of the ties that was holding 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 161 

me back from the trip ; but now that you are 
so much better, and have determined to get 
away from the constant temptation of busi- 
ness, I am sure by next spring you will be 
entirely recovered.” 

J ust at this moment Miss Adams came for 
me to go with her. I invited Mr. Oliver to 
go with us, and as Louise was with Miss 
Adams, we made a good walking-party. Miss 
Adams joined Mr. Oliver, and I took Louise 
under my charge. 

I overheard Mr, Oliver say to Miss Adams ; 

I hear you are going out with Mr. Gold’s 
party on the yacht.” 

^^Yes,” she said, ^^is it not delightful? 
We shall ha VO such a nice party, and the 
doctor’s familiarity with Europe will enable 
us to see and enjoy so much more than if he 
were not with us. I think you know what 
a wonderful man he is ; he seems to be pos- 
sessed with the power of renewing life and 
making everybody happy.” 

Oh, yes, I know it well, for I feel that I 
owe my life to him. I was indeed very ill 
when I first met him on my return from 


162 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Europe in October. His methods are most 
simple and natural, but most effectual. I 
cannot understand how he accomplishes so 
much without giving medicine ; his skill 
seems to be in the selection of habits of liv- 
ing which are natural and easy to his 
patients.” 

She said : It is indeed marvellous. Aunt 
V on Hoffman has not known a sick day since 
her return, and uncle is now quite free from 
his old troubles ; and as to Carl, he is an 
entirely different boy ; he is now in a law- 
of&ce and says he is making good progress. 
Uncle Von Hoffman intends to take him into 
the banking-house after January. I some- 
times wish that I might be sick, just to have 
the experience of the doctor’s curative 
power.” 

Why not get sick at heart, and let the 
doctor prescribe for you ? ” 

Oh ! ” she said, laughing, I don’t be- 
lieve the doctor would have any skill in that 
direction ; he is too deeply in love with his 
profession and scientific studies.” 

How do you know that ? ” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 163 

“ Oh ! I know it well, for I have written up 
a good many matters for him, and I know 
his mind runs in every channel save that of 
affairs of the heart.” 

Don’t be too sure of that. Miss Adams ; 
the doctor is a very lovable man, and if I 
were a young lady, I should set my cap for 
him, for he will be one of our most success- 
ful physicians, and one day will be rich. 
This trip will be of immense service to him.” 

She said : I sincerely hope that it may 
be so, and I also believe it will be of the 
greatest benefit to me in my profession. It 
will give me reputation and an experience 
that I had never hoped to have ; and, do you 
know, I owe it all to the doctor.” 

W ell, don’t forget to pay him the debt, 
if you do get heartsick, by calling him in as 
your physician. I know he can minister to 
a mind diseased, and I believe he could minis- 
ter successfully to a heart disordered.” 

“ Possibly,” she said, “ but I don’t expect 
to be sick in that way ; but I fear he will 
have to minister to a fearful case of sick 
stomach.” 


164 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Oh ! you must not think of that. The 
doctor has a preventive for seasickness ; I have 
heard him say that it is largely the result of 
nervousness and that it can be prevented by 
an exercise of the will-power, in association 
with a simple medicine which he prescribes.” 

Miss Adams said : ^‘1 shall be very willing 
to have him prevent it, and shall be a good 
subject for his treatment.” 

W e had now arrived at Chickering’s, where • 
we spent nearly two hours trying various 
pianos, and finally selected an upright grand. 

Then we all went, on the invitation of Mr. 
Oliver, to a quiet little restaurant near by and 
had our lunch. 

During the luncheon, Mr. Oliver said : 
‘•Doctor, I have never seen you take wine, 
and you have never prescribed it for me ; are 
you opposed to it ? ” 

I said : It is generally supposed that 
foreigners are always free users of wines and 
liquors, but this is a mistake ; I know of 
very many persons both in Germany and 
France who are total abstainers, and I also 
know of many foreign physicians who totally 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 165 

object to the use of it by their patients. I 
owe my distaste for wine to my father and 
mother, who were teetotallers. I did not 
inherit the taste, and then on principle, and 
from scientific knowledge, I object to all 
alcoholic liquors, for they are poisons, and 
like all poisons create an appetite for them- 
selves ; hence the danger of their use. In 
my specialty of medicine — nervous diseases 
— I never permit the use of alcohol. It is 
a false stimulant and possesses no true ele- 
ment as a tonic or nutriment. No, alcohol 
is dangerous, and will not bear handling by 
any one. Alcohol, in my opinion, has caused 
more ill-health, mental and physical misery, 
than any other influence known to human 
beings. The true medical scientist under- 
stands that he can produce better and more 
lasting results in the treatment of disease, 
without alcohol, than with it.’’ 

Mr. Oliver said : ‘‘ I think, doctor, you are 
correct in your views, and I wish every phy- 
sician was equally clear upon the subject.” 

When we had finished luncheon, Mr. 
Oliver said he was going home for a drive 


166 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

with his wife ; he took Louise with him. 
Miss Adams invited me to go with her to 
the bookstores to aid in the selection of 
reading matter for our trip. W e did not 
purchase any books then, but secured some 
catalogues, from which selections could be 
made. 

She then left me to call on her editorial 
friends and announce her departure. 

On my way up town I called at the library 
of the Medical Society and there learned that 
a meeting had been held the evening before, 
and that the treasurer had announced the re- 
ceipt of $125,000 from several gentlemen who 
had consolidated their contributions into one 
check, sent in from a bank, with the request 
that the amount should be credited to 

cash,” as the gentlemen did not wish their 
names recorded at present. True charity, I 
thought; unostentatious giving. A resolu- 
tion had been passed authorizing the con- 
struction of the new building, as they now 
had sufficient money to go forward. I made 
up my mind, if opportunity offered on our trip, 
that I would present this Society’s claims to 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 167 

Mr. Gold and see if he would not contribute 
something for this great benefit, and if he 
did, I intended at the proper time that the 
names of my friends who had contributed 
should be known. 

I asked the librarian to purchase for me a 
number of books which I wanted for my trip. 
He informed me that I had been elected 
a member of the Society. This was a very 
agreeable compliment, and I at once paid my 
fees for the year. 

I took this opportunity to write some letters 
to the few patients I had, and to my phy- 
sician friends, telling them of my contem- 
plated departure for a short visit to Europe, 
but with no intimation as to how I was going. 

On my return to the Plaza, I found an 
invitation from Madame Von Hoffman to 
dine with them the next evening, saying that 
Mr. and Mrs. Gold would also be their guests. 
I accepted the invitation. At this dinner I 
told them that they should make the most 
of the entertainment before them, for after 
it they must go into training for the voyage, 
so that they might avoid seasickness as much 


168 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


as possible. All agreed that it was a wise 
precaution. 

After dinner we had some music. Miss 
Adams sang several German and American 
ballads while I played her accompaniments. 
I never heard any one, except a professional, 
sing better ; her heart seemed to be full of 
joy from the stimulus of anticipation of the 
happy days to come. I was also very happy, 
for I knew that I should be a part of the 
joyous future she had passing before her 
eyes. It was quite late when we parted for 
the night. I walked home with Mr. Gold and 
his wife, and they expressed themselves as 
being quite satisfied in contemplation of the 
voyage. 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


169 


CHAPTER XI. 

OUR DEPARTURE ON THE YACHT. 

On Monday morning, December 15th, 
1886, at 11 : 30, we left the foot of West 23d 
Street for our ocean voyage. A large 
number of friends came to say hon voyage 
to our party. 

Mr. Gold had given a breakfast on board 
to Mr. Oliver, the Von Hoffmans, and some 
other friends. The day was clear and full 
of sunshine; no more auspicious departure 
could have been wished. We steamed 
slowly down the grandest harbor in the 
world, paying our respects to the Goddess 
of Liberty ” and to several U. S. Naval 
vessels by dipping our flag, which was 
courteously returned. At 12 : 30 we passed 
the Narrows, and were soon lost to sight in 
the lower bay, and shortly after were well out 
to sea, with the bow of the Veda turned 


170 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


east and heading for the Straits of Gibral- 
tar. 

The Yeda was an iron screw-propeller 
of the yacht class, built not for rapid travel, 
but for comfort and seaworthiness. She was 
a fine sea-boato She had powerful engines 
and every appointment in her mechanical 
department that modern skill could suggest, 
including electric lighting and sanitary 
plumbing, with ample bathing facilities. 
The saloon was most luxurious, and the 
sleeping-rooms were very attractive. In a 
word, the Veda might properly be called a 
floating palatial home. The crew, includ- 
ing Captain Hudson and the servants, con- 
sisted of thirteen, who, together with our 
party of six, made a total of nineteen persons 
on board. 

Mr. Gold had fitted up one of the state- 
rooms particularly for me, by taking out the 
berths and fixing in their place an iron fold- 
ing bed ; also a rack for books and a locker 
for medicines and my personal belongings. 
My comfort had been studied to an extreme 
degree. Each one of the party was equally 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 171 

comfortable in their rooms, so that our voy- 
age promised to be one of unalloyed pleasure, 
so far as the internal and external of the 
yacht was concerned ; and if the elements of 
water and air were only as propitious, we 
might hope for a most agreeable trip. 

We spent the afternoon arranging our 
belongings in the staterooms, and at six 
o’clock met for our first dinner on board. 
The sea was quite calm, every one was in 
good spirits and appetite except Mr. Gold ; 
he looked tired and was in a very silent 
mood. 

I feared, now that the affairs of business 
were left behind, he might let go a good deal 
of his will-power, and fall into almost a 
prostration of vital energy. I therefore 
directed his diet to only such food as might 
be most quickly assimilated, and hoped that 
the sleep I should induce later would carry 
him past the danger point. 

After dinner we had music, and at nine 
o’clock Mr. Gold, at my suggestion, retired 
to his stateroom for the night. I told him I 
would come in at eleven o’clock and put him 


172 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

to sleep, if lie had not already anticipated 
my visit. He was afraid that he would not 
sleep, but I said : 

We will make a powerful effort to over- 
come the enemy — wakefulness. 

I then took Miss Adams and the young 
people on deck for a promenade, where we 
were joined by Captain Hudson. 

The night was clear, quite cold, and the 
moonhght superb, but off to the west, near 
the horizon, some dark clouds could be seen, 
indicating the possibility of a strong wind. 

In the distance we saw the lights of an 
incoming steamer ; nearer still was a sailing- 
vessel, with all sail set, stealing along over 
the dark waters like a thing of life. All 
about us was water— deep, dark water ; 
between it and ourselves was but the thin 
partition of our yacht’s sides and bottom, a 
thing of iron. Surely it was a marvellous 
realization of the old Biblical statement that 
iron did swim.” 

As the steamer came nearer we signalled 
for name and place from which she had 
sailed ; back came the flashing signal-lights. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 173 

which told US that she was the Dom Pedro, 
from Rio de Janeiro for New York ; all well. 
We replied by giving our name, place from 
which we sailed, and our destination. This 
was our first conversation with a foreigner, 
which was made possible by the new system 
of electric-light flashes. 

Captain Hudson did not think the good 
weather would last over the next day ; he 
said we should no doubt have heavy winds 
out of the clouds in the west, which would 
help to push us quickly onward into the 
genial waters of the Gulf Stream and later 
on into the Mediterranean, with its warm 
southern winds. 

mean to spend this night in the pilot- 
house and get as much speed out of the 
Veda as possible, so that we may move as 
far away from heavy weather as we can. Mr. 
Gold is not a very good sailor, but his wife 
enjoys the sea and is never sick.’’ 

At ten o’clock I sent the young people to 
their rooms, while Miss Adams and myself 
took seats in the captain’s cabin, and as he 
had gone to the pilot-house, we were alone. 


174 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

This was my opportunity, for I wanted to 
develop the second self of Miss Adams for a 
few moments, and ascertain, if possible, her 
real self’s mental condition, now that we had 
started on our journey together. When we 
entered the cabin we sat down by the steam- 
heater, for the walk outside had made us 
rather chilly. She was sitting in a low, com- 
fortable chair, while I took a higher one, 
which enabled me to look down into her 
face. 

After a moment I said : Do you regret 
coming on this trip, now that we are really 
off?” 

She said : ^^No, I do not exactly regret it, 
but I feel impressed with a sense of grave 
responsibility, and for one who has always 
been so free and independent, these close 
quarters seem rather oppressive.” 

suppose you have a fear,” I said, ^^of 
that condition which prompted the old say- 
ing ^familiarity breeds contempt.’ ” 
Possibly,” she said. 

I did not quite believe her, and so I took 
from my pocket my hypnotic mirror and 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 175 

began to flash it in the moonlight, knowing 
she would involuntarily turn her eyes upon it. 

She said ; That is a very peculiar habit 
you have.” 

What habit?” I said. 

The habit of playing with that trinket.” 

^^Oh, yes,” I said; ^^it is rather strange, is 
it not, for a staid old doctor to spend his 
time playing with a toy ; and yet this toy has 
been my constant companion for several 
years and could, if it would, tell some mar- 
vellous tales.” 

She did not make any response to my 
statement. I looked steadily into her eyes 
and found that she had submitted to the in- 
fluence. Then I took her hand, and said : 

What does Frances think, now that she is 
at last on the V eda, and off for the European 
trip ? ” 

She said, or, in other words, her second 
self said : ‘‘ She is delighted, and so full of 
happiness that she fears constantly she will 
betray her feelings, and most of all she fears 
the doctor will divine her thoughts and be- 
come aware of her great satisfaction at being 


176 


DAME FOETTJNE SMILED. 


in constant association with him. She has 
determined to so arrange her duties to Mr. 
Gold that she will not be even dependent 
upon the doctor for companionship.’’ 

^^Has Mr. Gold/’ I asked, named an 
agreeable compensation for her duties in his 
service ? ” 

Oh, yes ; Mr. Gold told her that she should 
have three hundred dollars per month and 
her travelling expenses ; that all matters of 
expense would be attended to by the doctor, 
except her compensation, for that she should 
come to him.” 

I asked: Do you think Frances has any 
more serious feeling towards the doctor than 
that of mere friendship ? ” 

Oh, yes ! her heart is full of love for 
him, but she hopes that if the doctor should 
have any such feelings for her, he will not 
demonstrate them on this trip over the ocean, 
but wait for a later time.” 

This seemed to be a sufficient communica- 
tion for one sitting, and I arose and opened 
the door of the cabin and let the cool air 
blow over her. She began to revive at once. 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


177 


She said : Doctor, have I been asleep ? I 
feel as though I had just awakened from a 
most delightful dream.” 

“ No,” I said, not asleep ; you only lost 
yourself for a moment ; the reaction from 
the cold air when you came under the influ- 
ence of the warmth of the cabin caused you 
for a moment to sink into that most delight- 
ful state of drowsiness called dreamland. But 
we must now return to the saloon. You 
must be tired and will no doubt wish to 
retire very soon.” 

I think I shall, and it will be a sweet 
sleep, for I feel quite happy.” 

^^It gives me pleasure to hear you say 
this, for happiness comes from two sources, 
health and pleasant surroundings, and as I 
am part of the environment, I take a part of 
the cause to myself.” 

Don’t be so sure of that; a doctor only 
makes us happy when he cures us of illness ; 
and his presence in the environment where 
health prevails might be a suggestion of ill- 
ness.” 

Am I then to understand that I have no 


12 


178 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


part in the conditions which led up to your 
happy feelings to-night?’’ 

I fear your questions are too direct to 
be made to one in the enjoyment of health. 
Good-night, doctor. I may answer when 
we get to the other side of the ocean.” 

On entering the salon I found Mrs. Gold 
reading some farewell letters which had been 
sent to her just as we were leaving the dock. 
She told me that Mr. Gold had asked for me, 
so I went at once to his room. I found him 
restless and fearful of a wakeful night. I 
gave him a quieting medicine and then sat 
down by his bed and began passing my hand 
over his forehead, talking to him in a quiet 
manner. In less than half an hour I had 
conquered the nervous storm and left him 
sleeping. I returned to my room, partially 
undressed, and slipping on a dressing-gown 
lay down for a short nap, as I intended to 
visit Mr. Gold again during the night. 
About two o’clock I awoke and went to his 
room; I found him awake, and much re- 
freshed, but still somewhat nervous. I spent 
an hour with him and in that time succeeded 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 179 

in quieting his mind so that he again fell 
into slumber. I felt now quite sure he would 
sleep through the night. 

At nine o’clock the next morning we met 
for breakfast, all save Miss Adams ; she re- 
ported herself, through Louise, as suffering 
slightly from seasickness. I sent her some 
medicine and suggested that she remain in 
her room until noon, Avhen I expected to see 
her on deck. 

She replied : Tell the doctor he has en- 
tirely too good an opinion of his medicine. 
I shall not be able to get out of my room to- 
day.” 

But, true to my expectation, at twelve 
o’clock I found her in the saloon, and after 
wrapping her up in warm coats I succeeded in 
getting her on deck, where we found Mr. and 
Mrs. Gold enjoying the fresh air. The 
young people had gone to the chart room 
with the captain to study the course of the 
yacht. I walked up and down with Miss 
Adams for a short time, then I asked her to 
join Mrs. Gold while I took Mr. Gold into 
the captain’s cabin for a little conversation. 


180 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


When we were seated, Mr. Gold said: 

Doctor, I cannot understand your success 
in driving away my nervous excitement and 
putting me to sleep.” 

Oh,” I said, it is most simple. I am 
a perfectly well man, my whole system is 
working in true equilibrium, and I am phys- 
ically very strong. When I sit down by 
you and pass my hand over your forehead, 
I arrest your thoughts and turn them into a 
new channel of action ; you forget yourself 
and come under the influence of a stronger 
physical nature, which wills you into mental 
rest. W eariness is not always — and 1 doubt 
if it is ever in your case — a disorder of your 
muscular system ; it proceeds entirely from 
the brain, and therefore, when we quiet the 
nerve centres, we set the mind at rest and 
reactively we quiet and rest the whole body ; 
thus nature has her way, and the sweet 
restorer — sleep — follows as a natural se- 
quence.” 

But,” he said, must I be so dependent 
in the future ? ” 

Oh, no ; you will soon recover your 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 181 

former good health ; the mind, having been 
relieved from unnatural strain, will fall into 
natural habits, and with it will come natural 
function. I mean to have you in good form 
both of body and brain before a month has 
gone, and when you come in contact with 
new associations and scenes in Europe, you 
will forget your old self and be a new man.” 

Mr. Gold said : I hope it will be true ; at 
least I shall try my best to co-operate with 
you, doctor.” 

‘‘ I am glad to hear that, for I could not 
hope to succeed in my undertaking if I did 
not have your hearty aid in my every effort. 
But do not fear ; we shall get on well to- 
gether ; I have so willed it and it must be so.” 

He said : I almost feel sure that it will 
be, for I have some knowledge of the power 
of mind over mind, and can readily believe 
in the power of mind over body. I shall 
surrender mine to you for the future better- 
ment I so much desire.” 

At this moment Miss Adams came to 
announce that lunch was ready, and that she 
was ready for it. 


182 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Ah ! I said, laughingly, I thought 
you were going to spend the day in your 
room.” 

W ell, you see I am not going to do any 
such thing, which I suppose will justify some 
vanity on your part, in that your medicine 
has been of service to me ; but do not be 
sure of it, for I too have some will-power. I 
just made up my mind that I would not 
give up to the sea, and be its victim.” 

‘‘ Good, very good,” I said. Mr. Gold 
and myself have just been discussing the 
power of the mind over the body, and we 
are prepared to encourage you in your good 
resolution. Keep it up and you will not 
have much use for the doctor.” 

Our trip over the Atlantic was uneventful. 
In due time we arrived at Gibraltar, our 
first port ; here we spent several days visit- 
ing the fortress and making trips to some of 
the interior cities of Spain, moving slowly 
and seeking as much comfort as possible. 

On December 25, Christmas day, we ar- 
rived off Marseilles. In the morning we all 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


183 


went on shore, each one purchasing some 
remembrance of the day, and in the evening, 
after the Christmas dinner, we presented our 
gifts to each other. We also found letters 
from New York friends ; I had remem- 
brances from my mother and brother, to 
whom I had written before leaving New 
York, telling them of my trip. Our cele- 
bration of the day was most agreeable. Mr, 
Gold was improving in health, and quite 
ready to take part in our pleasures. 

It was while sitting on deck with Mr. and 
Mrs. Gold the next morning after our 
Christmas evening — Miss Adams and the 
young people having gone on shore with the 
captain — that the following important event 
occurred. 

Mr. Gold was talking with me and con- 
gratulating himself on his improved health. 
He said : Doctor, I would like to celebrate 
my return to my old self in some way.” 

^^Yes,” Mrs. Gold said, ^Hhat would be 
very pleasurable, and as the doctor has been 
a very important factor in it, we should let 
him direct the character of the celebration.” 


184 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


I was deeply impressed with this oppor- 
tunity to urge my two pet interests in New 
York — the New York Medical Society’s 
buildings and the furthering of my plans 
for a more extended application of the refin- 
ing influence of music upon the public. 

I said : Mr. Gold, in what way do you 
propose to celebrate ? ” 

W ell, I would hke to make a monetary 
present to some worthy charity. I have been 
so deeply immersed in my affairs of business 
that I have not given any thought to the 
comfort of others, outside of my own immed- 
iate friends. I am afraid I have been very 
selfish and the passion of getting money has 
overshadowed the giving. I must also con- 
fess that I know absolutely nothing of the 
wants of our city. My wife has given 
money through her church work and has 
some few charities which she contributes to.” 

I said : Do you wish to give a large sum 
to some worthy object?” 

Yes,” he said, that is just what I wish 
to do.” 

Then I shall be very glad to lay before 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 185 

you the plans and prospectus of two inter- 
ests! have very much at heart in New York.” 

I then made clear to Mr. Gold the claims 
of the New York Medical Society, the pro- 
posed cost of their building, and the import- 
ance of having it free from debt. I also 
told him of the Gluck Musical Society’s 
work. Finally I said : Ihelieve that the man 
who has money to give to the public should 
give it himself in his lifetime and enjoy the 
consummation of his wishes ; or^ in other 
words, administer upon his own estate.” 

The idea seemed to strike him with great 
favor, and having written down the names 
of the treasurers of the two societies, he said 
he would think the matter over and would 
act on my suggestion and give a present to 
each of these worthy societies. He said : 

May I mention your name in connection 
with my gifts?” 

Oh, no, I beg that you will not do so ; 
take the whole credit to yourself.” 

No,” he said, I will have the money 
paid by my hankers as from a friend, who 
will later on give his name.” 


186 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


That nio^lit at a late hour Mr. Gold called 
me to his room, where I found liim in bed 
and quite restless. He said : 

Doctor, I cannot quite make up my 
mind as to what amount I should give to 
your Medical Society. I want it to be a 
large sum, one that will put them into com- 
fortable circumstances and remove the neces- 
sity of mortgaging the property to finish it.’’ 

• I said ; Suppose we cable Y on Hoffman 
and ask him to get the facts, then you can 
act more intelligently. I will write the cable 
and sign my name.” 

He said : Thank you, and now if you 
will give me some of your mental rest, I will 
go to sleep.” 

I sent the cable, and by noon the next day 
I had the answer : 

Doctor , 

Marseilles. 

Half million covers everything free and 

Von Hoffman.” 

As soon as Mr. Gold read it, he said : 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 187 

That is just the amount I had made up my 
mind to give/’ 

He called Miss Adams and taking out his 
cypher book dictated the message to his 
bankers in New York, which authorized them 
to pay over without conditions to the treasurer 
of the New York Medical Society ^500,000. 

The news of th^ magnificent gift was soon 
flying about the country, and every news- 
paper of the city tried to find out the truth 
about it, but the secret was well protected 
and only came before the public a year later, 
at the celebration of the completion of the 
building, when Miss Adams gave the facts 
to the Watch Tower ^ and for the first time 
the following list was published : 

Contributors to the New York Medical 
Society. 

Mr. Gold, $500,000 

Mr. Oliver, 50,000 

Mr. Von Hoffman, . . . 25,000 

Other friends by payment of 

smaller sums, .... 125,000 


$700,000 ” 


188 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

Mr. Gold also gave me a draft on his New 
York bankers for $25,000 for the Gluck 
Musical Society. I said : Mr. Gold, this is 
a grand testimonial in celebration of your 
improved health, and I could almost wish that 
you might again have occasion for another 
such event.” 

When the opportunity presented, Mrs. 
Gold took occasion to say to me privately, 
that she very much approved of her hus- 
band’s action and hoped I would encourage 
him to administer upon as much of his estate 
as possible, and not leave it for executors and 
heirs to struggle over. ^^We shall have 
much more than we would know what to do 
with, if Mr. Gold should die with his present 
wealth.” 

I said that I had often followed the legal 
controversies over estates, and that I could 
not understand why men of wealth should 
not enjoy during their life the giving of 
money and seeing that it was expended as 
they desired, and also see the good it would 
accomplish in their lifetime. 

During Christmas week we made some ex- 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 189 

cursions into southern France, and on Jan- 
uary 1st left for Venice, visiting Nice, Genoa, 
Florence, Rome, and Naples on the route. In 
these various cities I had many pleasant talks 
and visits with Miss Adams at the picture 
galleries and places of amusement. I found to 
my great satisfaction that our lives were grow- 
ing closer together, and I determined that 
when we arrived in that charming old city, 
Venice, which had once been the queen of 
maritime wealth, I would offer my heart, 
hand, and future life to this most attractive 
woman. I had learned to love her deeply ; 
her life had been to me an open page of 
noble nature. I had studied her every 
movement of body and mind since we had 
met in New York, and I could see that in a 
married life with her lay a future of great hap- 
piness for both of us. We would each have 
ample means, and each a noble profession ; 
why should we not join hands, hearts, and 
minds for the good of humanity and our- 
selves ? 

I think Mrs. Gold suspected my admira- 
tion for Miss Adams, for on one occasion she 


190 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

said to me : Doctor, Miss Adams improves 
upon acquaintance. She is the most lovable 
girl I have ever known. She will make 
some man a noble wife.” 

^^Yes/’ I said, ^^but would it not be a 
pity to interrupt her career as a journalist 
by burdening her with the cares of married 
life?” 

Oh, no,” she said, it would not be a 
burden ; it would only add glory to her life ; 
but she should marry a man of equal brain- 
power and one as deeply Interested in the 
affairs of humanity.” 

“ True,” I said, she should marry one 
entirely worthy of her, but they are like 
angels’ visits, few and far between.” 

Yes,” she said, with a significant look at 
me, but I could name one who would, I 
think, be in every way suitable.” 

Just at this moment Miss Adams joined 
us and cut short a most delicate conversa- 
tion. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


1^1 


CHAPTER XII. 

MY ENGAGEMENT. 

After we had been in V enice a few days, 
I took Miss Adams and the young people for 
a day’s visit to an old chateau which had 
a magnificent collection of pictures. We 
wandered about all the morning ; at noon 
we went to a little villa for lunch, after 
which Louise and Willie Gold wandered off 
in the garden and left Miss Adams and my- 
self alone. 

I felt that my opportunity had come. I 
began the conversation in rather a novel 
way. 

I said : Miss Adams, you know, of course, 
what a grand aid Mr. Gold has been to two 
of my pet interests in New York. I have 
also an ambition to further influence him to 
aid other public interests and one which I 
hope will be my future life-work, but I 


192 DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 

must have the co-operation in this work of 
some one who would enter heart and soul 
into it with me, first by helping me to ob- 
tain the money necessary to make my plans 
possible, and then to aid me in the intellectual 
work incident to them. I have thought over 
this matter deeply, and I believe you are the 
one person above all others suitable to join 
me in this venture. Will you do so ? 

How can I say ? You have not told me 
what your future work will be or what the 
passion of your ambition is.^’ 

No better words could have been used as 
a cue for my reply. Leaning over the table 
at which we were sitting and taking her 
hand in mine, I said : 

Frances, my first passionate ambition is 
prompted by my love for you ; it is to make 
you my wife and partner in the future work 
for humanity which I shall undertake.’’ I 
felt her hand tremble, her eyelids fell, she 
grew quite pale, but she did not withdraw her 
hand. I said : Cannot you love me, and 
come into and be a part of my life ? ” 

^^Yes, doctor, I shall be more than de- 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 193 

lighted to co-operate with you in furthering 
your work for humanity, but I cannot quite 
comprehend why this should also necessitate 
my loss of individuality by becoming a part 
of your life ? ” 

‘^But, my darling Frances, do you not 
understand. I wish to make you my wife ; 
I want your life to be a part of my own, so 
that we may truly become the exponent of 
that beautiful sentiment, 

“ ‘ Two souls with but a single thought, 

Two hearts that beat as one.’ ” 

Oh, my dear doctor, my heart is very 
full of gratitude to you. I cannot say that 
I could not love you, but, think what a pos- 
sibility of loss of independence we should 
suffer if we were married. My work would 
be almost lost in entering upon ^ your life- 
work,’ as you ask me to do ; and your ^ life- 
work’ would no doubt in a measure be 
compromised in the effort to provide for me 
and my work. Then, again, doctor, you 
have not known me a sufficiently long time 
to say if two such minds and hearts as ours 
could be well mated for a Hfetime. You 

13 


194 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

are a German and I an American, and we 
have been educated under very different con- 
ditions. We have only hrain-work in com- 
mon ; can this be sufficient to justify pledg- 
ing our whole natures into a unity of pur- 
pose ? ’’ 

I could not help but smile at the ingenious 
manner and argument of this lovely girl; 
I could see the happy light of love in her 
eyes ; I knew she loved me, and that this 
talk was but the natural exhibition of a 
modest woman who would not be too easily 
won. While she talked she gently withdrew 
her hand from mine. I turned my head 
away from the table, allowing my face to ex- 
press great disappointment. 

^^Well,” I said, finally, you may be 
correct in your idea that a man and woman, 
both ambitious, and both having a life-work 
before them, who are deeply interested in 
each other, and whose love for each other is 
unmistakable, cannot further their several 
purposes as man and wife, but I cannot be- 
lieve it; and, however high I have set the 
mark of my professional ambition, I do not 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


195 


think it too far away or too exalted but that 
it will bear the purification and tender sym- 
pathy of a loving woman’s heart. 

Think, my dear Frances, of the future 
we may work out together. You with your 
intellectual work and I with my labor in re- 
newing life, we must have much to say to 
the public — to the world — and I know we can 
jointly render it acceptable.” 

I arose from my seat and went closer to 
her and again taking her hand in mine I said : 

Come, my dear one, do not try to avoid 
that condition which nature has fixed for 
you and myself. Our lives must be as one. 
Come, will you not accept my love and give 
me yours and say that you will become my 
wife ? ” 

She did not withdraw her hand from 
mine, but dropped her eyes before my most 
earnest, searching look ; in a few moments 
she looked up into my face with a sunshine 
of happiness in her eyes and said : 

Yes, with all my soul, my dear doctor, 
I will join you. I have long since learned 
to love you, and whatever your future life- 


196 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


work may be I will give you my most ardent 
co-operation, as your wife.’’ 

I drew her to me, and our lips met in the 
first kiss of love. 

After dinner that evening, and while the 
young people were on deck for their even- 
ing walk, I took Miss Adams by the hand 
and going up to Mr. and Mrs. Gold, I said : 

Let me introduce to you my future wife.” 

Mrs. Gold threw her arms around Miss 
Adams and said : My dear child, this makes 
me very happy.” 

Mr. Gold was very much pleased, and 
said he had hoped that such an engagement 
might take place. 

Mrs. Gold said : You must cable Mrs. 
Von Hoffman at once.” 

Which we did, and the next day we re- 
ceived the most congratulatory answer. 

Now that I had secured Frances Adams 
to be my future wife, I wanted very much 
to present her to my mother. I therefore 
proposed to Mr. Gold that I would take his 
son, Louise Von HofPman, and Miss Adams 
for a trip to Berlin, via Paris. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 197 

Mr. Gold very heartily approved my plan, 
and said he would visit some of the interior 
towns of Italy during our absence. 

Miss Adams and our young friends left 
V enice with me for Berlin by way of Paris. I 

wanted to see my old friend Professor V 

and introduce him to my future wife. We 
spent two days in Paris, where Frances 
finished her journal letter to the Watch 
Tower ^ which covered all the period of our 
trip since we left New York up to January 
31. She had been a very busy writer dur- 
ing our trip over the ocean and also from 
Marseilles to Venice. She had worked on 
her journal, and had written letters for Mr. 
Gold almost every day for an hour or two 
to his various managers in America, and 
also on the subject of the final plans for the 
reorganization of the railroad we were all so 
much interested in. The contents of these 
letters had not been divulged to me, but 
now that Frances was shortly to be my wife 
I felt that I miofht ask her to tell me the 
outline of the communications ; yet I could 
not risk placing her in a false position, so I 


198 


DAME FORTTJNE SMILED. 


determined to place her under the hypnotic 
influence. The opportunity to carry this 
into effect came on the evening after we had 
dined at Professor V ’s house. 

The young jieople had gone to the theatre 

with Professor V ’s son and daughter, and 

would return direct to our hotel. Frances 
and myself returned by carriage during the 
evening. When we arrived at our hotel 
we went into our private saloon. I engaged 
her in conversation and placed her under 
my influence, but so slightly that I thought 
she could not realize it, and then it was that 
she told me that Mr. Gold had written to V on 
Hoffman to purchase for his account all the 
railroad stock he could then out ; that he had 
placed in his hands the money to complete 
the ten miles of road necessary to connect 
the road with the main line ; that V on Hoff- 
man had been instructed to employ lawyers 
in New York to arrange at once the reor- 
ganization ; and that he would like him to 
act as trustee for the exchange of the stock 
and bonds. This was information sufficient 
for my purpose, as I knew Von Hoffman 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


199 


would be wise enough to protect all our 
interests in his hands. 

I revived Frances, and greatly to my 
astonishment, she said : Doctor, I now 

know that you have just placed me under 
hypnotic influence, and I am almost sure 
you have done so before. Why did you do 
it?’’ 

I did not think it wise to tell her the 
whole truth and so I said : “ My dear, you 
are a very good subject ; I could not at times 
resist the temptation to test my power.” 

Frances said : My dear doctor, I shall 
always be glad to aid you in your studies 
and future ambitions, and you have power 
sufficient of a normal character over me for 
this, so please do not use this mysterious 
power again. I fear that I appear to you 
as another being — not myself. Command 
me in my real self and I will co-operate 
with you, for I know you will not ask of 
me anything which cannot be for our mutual 
benefit and the bettering of others.” 

I felt rebuked, and was sorry I had not 
exhibited more confidence in her. I then 


200 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


determined to tell her what my future work 
would be. 

I said : ‘‘ Frances, my dear heart, forgive 
me; I will not again subject you to this 
sleep, but will take you into my life as you 
are. I have told you of my first ambition, 
to make you my wife ; I will now tell you 
what my future work is to be. 

I want to build in New York, on certain 
ground that I have seen, a large hospital 
for the treatment of nervous diseases. This 
institution will, I think, cost $200,000 ; at 
least, that is the outside cost as estimated by 
an architect to whom I submitted my idea 
before leaving New York, and who also 
made plans and specifications for the build- 
ing. When it is finished I propose to equip 
it with the most perfect appointments sug- 
gested by modern medical science. I shall 
appoint a staff of assistant physicians from 
the leading hospitals, private and public, in 
America. At present this plan is but a 
dream, which only money can make real, and 
this money will have to come from some one 
who can appreciate what a great benefit it 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 201 

would be to humanity. It will, of course, 
have to come from some one other than my- 
self, for the reason that I have not got it, 
and I am not and never will be a money- 
maker. I have, however, sufficient money 
to purchase the land I want, but the build- 
ing fund is yet a problem, and it is in the 
solving of this that I want your special 
aid. Your woman’s intuition must guide 
me, so that I will not make a mistake. 

You know, Mr. Gold has already given a 
large sum, through my influence, to the 
New York Medical Society, but I hope we 
may influence him still further so that he 
may be inchned to give yet larger sums for 
the sake of humanity.” 

^^Yes,” she said, know he intends to 
set aside a trust fund for beneficent pur- 
poses, in the event of his death, for I have 
only recently written instructions to his law- 
yers to prepare the papers providing for such 
a trust, involving the expenditure, I should 
say, of several millions of dollars.” 

Is Mr. Gold really a very rich man ? ” 
Frances said : Oh, yes, I thought you 


202 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


knew. Why, he is reputed to be worth fifty 
millions of dollars. I have seen by his cor- 
respondence and in articles which I have 
written about him long since, a confirmation 
of this.’’ 

I said : What could he do with such a 
vast estate if kept for his own use? He 
must be made to understand that such wealth, 
in any country, is but a public trust; he 
should be impressed with the grand purpose 
of executing this trust in his lifetime, that he 
may have a long life of enjoyment in seeing 
its usefulness ; when the opportunity presents 
itself, we must be prepared to lay our plans 
before him and see if he will not turn some 
of his wealth into our hospital.” 

Frances said : am sure it can be done, 

for I know how fully and deeply interested 
both Mrs. and Mr. Gold are in you and your 
professional work. But let me see your plans, 
if you have them with you.” 

^^No, I cannot do that; they are on the 
yacht. When we return we will take some 
evening for our inspection and my explana- 
tion of them ; then you can call Mr. and Mrs. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 203 

Gold in to look them over ; perhaps in this 
way we shall get the matter before him and 
secure his interest, and ere he knows it, his 
money may fall into our laps.’’ 

Frances said : That is an admirable plan. 
I am sure of Mrs. Gold’s sympathy, and I 
feel almost sure Mr. Gold will be as deeply 
interested, and that your hopes will be suc- 
cessful.” 

I then for the first time explained to her 
my investments with her uncle V on Hoffman 
and also of his investment for her, and of the 
profit there had been in it before we left 
New York, and that it was likely to prove of 
yet greater value. 

Her surprise and joy over this was most 
agreeable to me, for I knew that I had been 
a part of it, in that I had suggested the in- 
vestment to her uncle. 

She said : My dear doctor, let us write 
to uncle Yon Hoffman and tell him of your 
plans for your hospital, and ask him to take 
a part of our joint money and purchase the 
ground. Where is it located ? 

On Washington Heights ridge over- 


204 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


looking both the Hudson and Harlem rivers, 
the view extending into New Jersey on the 
one side and Long Island on the other, while 
on the north and south a grand view for 
many miles may be had of the Hudson river 
valley. I found this most charming spot 
during one of my long walks.’’ 

She said : I wish I had been with you 
on that walk, for it must be a most attractive 
spot.” 

Yes, my dear, I wish now that you had ; 
but if we live we will have many delightful 
walks there together. It will be the path- 
way of our future lives, and I mean to make 
it one of roses.” 

Before we closed our eyes in sleep that 
night the letter had been written and mailed 
instructing Von Hoffman to purchase the 
land I wanted for my hospital. Thus was 
the first step taken in what has since proved 
a grand realization of my first professional 
dream in America. 


DAME FORTLTKE SmLED. 


205 


CHAPTER XIII. 

MY mother’s HOME IN BERLIN. 

On the morning following the events 
related in the last chapter we started for 
Berlin, and in due time I held my dear mother 
in my arms. I had telegraphed her that I 
was on my way home, and that I had three 
guests with me. She was ready to receive us 
all, and we were soon comfortably fixed in 
the dear old German household. 

My mother did not speak English, but as 
we aU spoke German the conversation was 
most easy. She gave many searching looks 
at Frances ; I had not yet told her of our 
engagement ; I was curious to see the effect 
of her first impression. 

That night, before I retired, I went to my 
mother’s room. Then it was she said : My 
son, is there not love between you and this 
lady?” 


206 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Yes,” I said ; are you satisfied to have 
me interested in her? Would you be glad 
to accept Frances Adams as a daughter ? ” 
Yes, my son ; she is a true woman, and I 
believe her to be in every way worthy of 
you.” 

I said : Oh ! I am so very glad you think 
so, dear mother.” 

Then I told her of our engagement, which 
made her quite happy. The next morning, 
when Frances came into the breakfast room, 
my mother placed her hand on her head, 
kissed her, and addressed her as “ my dear 
daughter.” 

We spent a week with my mother. The 
young people had a fine time with my brother, 
who took them to see all the sights of the 
lovely old city. My mother suggested that 
Frances and myself should be married at the 
old home in May after our trip to the East. 
Thus it came about that all our plans were 
well matured before we returned to the V eda. 

My mother and brother consented to come 
out and make their home with me in New 
York after I had completed my sanitarium. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 207 

I wanted my brother with me in a profes- 
sional capacity. 

In two weeks from the time we left, we 
were back on the yacht. 

I found that Mr. Gold had not been well 
for several days, and was anxious for my re- 
turn, but I soon relieved him of his anxiety, 
and putting him on a hygienic diet for a 
week succeeded in getting back his usual 
health. 

W e left y enice the later part of February ; 
we made a short visit to Constantinople and 
were a few days in Athens, and finally ar- 
rived at Alexandria early in March. Here 
we found letters from New York ; one from 
Von Hoffman to me with the information 
that he had taken title to the land for my 
hospital, that he had been out to see the 
spot and was delighted with it, and that he 
had now well in hand the whole business of 
the railroad. He expected to be in Berlin 
by the middle of April with his wife. I 
also found a letter from my friend Oliver, 
saying he was then in Paris, and that 
he would join us with his wife and two 


208 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


children at Cairo in a few days, and asked me 
to secure rooms for them. We left the 
Veda at Alexandria and went on to Cairo 
by rail that we might see something of 
Egypt. 

In Cairo I had secured all the rooms in a 
quiet little hotel, with excellent accommoda- 
tion, so that we were most comfortable. Mr. 
Oliver, his wife and children soon arrived. 

I had not spoken of my sanitarium in the 
presence of Mr. Gold, for I felt that the 
time had not arrived. Frances had talked 
with me about it and urged me to open the 
subject, but I said no, wait until we are in 
the land of the Magi, and then I will show 
you an exhibition of the power of mind over 
mind. Mr. Oliver was to be a member of 
our party, and I wanted to give him an op- 
portunity of taking part in my future; I 
wanted his aid in developing my influence 
over Mr. Gold, for I knew I could control 
Oliver and direct his mind in my way of 
thought. 

One evening after dinner, when all of our 
party were present, I began talking of the 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 209 

wonderful progress that had been made in 
medical science through the private experi- 
ments of noted European and American 
physicians and chemists, in their own hos- 
pitals and laboratories. Mr. Oliver said : 
« Why, doctor, that is the thing for you to 
do in New York. Have a hospital of your 
own.’’ 

I said : I would be delighted to have 
such a place, but it would take a great deal of 
money to accomplish my idea of the proper 
kind of hospital for my department of 
science. I am in hopes, however, some day 
that I may be able to carry out just such a plan, 
and in anticipation of it, I have secured a 
plot of ground for my buildings.” 

Every one seemed much interested. 
Frances, with admirable tact, said : Doctor, 
if you have your plans with you, please let 
us see them.” 

I had designedly brought the plans with 
me, and so I said I would be very glad to ex- 
hibit them. Thus it came about that, with- 
out apparent design, I had the pleasure of 
laying out the whole matter to my friends. 

14 


210 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Mrs. Oliver was most enthusiastic ; she it was 
who said : W.hy not call your sanitarium 
by some attractive name?*’ and suggested 
The Frances Home.” They all fell in 
with this idea. 

I said : I accept your suggestion, but as 
1 expect to be joined to America by more 
than one tie, I will with your permission 
make the name a combination, American- 
German, and call the sanitarium The Frances 
Heimath, 

This was received with approval by every 
one, save Frances, who very appropriately 
blushed and objected to the personality, by 
the use of her name. 

Mr. Gold said : Well, now that you have 
built your castles in the air, would it not be 
wise to come down to earth and start the 
foundations ? ” 

Yes,” I said, that is the wise and 
prudent method, to build upon the rock and 
not in the air, but I do not intend to lay 
one stone until I am sure of the money be- 
ing all in hand to fully finish and equip this 
Home. I have secured the ground and it 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 211 

is paid for in full, as I am now advised by 
letters from Von Hoffman. There is an old 
house on the grounds with a half-dozen rooms 
in it, and I may conclude to make this house 
the nucleus of my future sanitarium.” 

What about the capital to run your 
sanitarium after it is finished ? ” asked Mrs. 
Oliver. 

Oh ! I think there will be no trouble on 
that score. My future partner ” (taking the 
hand of Frances in my own) and myself 
have, or will have as soon as we sign articles 
of copartnership, enough capital to make 
our venture a success ; and as to suffering 
humanity, there will be, I think, a sufficient 
number who will be glad to try the ^ new 
doctor.’ Perhaps I shall be so well known 
by reason of Mr. Gold’s selection of me for 
this trip, that I will not be compelled to put 
up my doctor’s sign on the fence ; indeed I 
feel quite sure of work and an income.” 

But,” said Mr. Gold, you have not yet 
given us an idea as to how you will get the 
money to build and equip your sanitarium. 

I must confess,” I answered, that at 


212 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


this time I am not prepared to say, but I have 
no fear but that it will come all in due time.’’ 

Thus the conversation ended, as the time 
for retiring had come. I did not then wish 
to discuss the details, for I wanted the seed 
of suggestion to take root and grow into 
something tangible later on. I had no fear 
for my future, for I saw how deeply inter- 
ested my friends were in my plans. 

For the next day I had chartered a steam- 
boat to take our party up the Nile for a day’s 
excursion, with lunch on board. It was on 
this trip and after lunch that Mr. Oliver 
called me aside and said : 

Doctor, now that you have decided to 
make New York your home, by marrying 
and settling down there, Mr. Gold and my- 
solf, with our wives, have chosen me as a 
committee of one to offer you as a gratuity 
and marriage gift to your wife and yourself 
all the money necessary for your sanitarium. 
As to capital to sustain the work, you know 
you have a large sum coming to you from 
the 5,000 shares of railroad stock I have 
purchased for your account.” 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


213 


But/’ I said, you must understand that 
this work will cost a very large sum, at least 
$ 200 , 000 .” 

Yes,” he said, and such a work may and 
nearly always does cost more than the 
estimate. Even this contingency we are 
prepared to meet, if you will accept the 
money. It must, however, be accepted on 
one or two conditions, namely, that you will 
agree not to sell the property, or cease its 
management during your lifetime, and that 
you will make provision for a fair proportion 
of free beds.” 

Oh ! ” I said, I will gladly accede to the 
conditions you name ; even more, for I mean 
to have a free consultation department and 
treatment for ^ out patients ’ suffering from 
nervous diseases, but this will be in a separate 
building somewhat removed from the main 
sanitarium, so that the patients who come 
for resident treatment will not be in contact 
with those whose suffering might be un- 
pleasant to them and thus possibly defeat 
my efforts of cure. I shall expect people 
of means to pay large fees, which will cover 


214 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


the professional service to them, as also the 
service to those who cannot pay. But, 
surely, it is not your purpose to give me 
title to this property individually ? ” 

Yes, it is,’’ Mr. Oliver said. 

I said : W ould it not be better to form a 
trust estate and convey to trustees ? ” 

Oh, no ; you and your wife will be 
trustees fully capable of carrying out the 
purpose we have in view. Well, what do 
you say, will you accept the gift ? I may 
tell you that Mr. Gold insists upon contrib- 
uting one-half the sum, whatever it may be.” 

Yes,” I said, I will accept the gift. 
Please write out your conditions.” 

Mr. Oliver said : Oh ! they can wait until 
we return to New York.” 

That evening at dinner Mr. Oliver told 
the whole company that The Frances 
Heimath ” was assured, and that work would 
commence at once on the construction. 

The next day Frances came to me with a 
writing signed by Mr. and Mrs. Gold, and 
Mr. Oliver and his wife, promising to fur- 
nish all the money for my sanitarium. Frances 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 215 

also handed me an authority from Mr. Gold 
directing his bankers to pay to my New York 
architects the money necessary to begin the 
work and put in the foundations, and do 
such other work as the season would permit. 

I said : My dear Frances, do you re- 
member my conversation with you in Paris ? 
You see, ^all things will come to those who 
will but only wait.' " 

She said : Yes, but you, my dear doctor, 
are a wizard and inject your wishes into the 
minds of those you would influence ; you 
cause them do that which they would not 
otherwise think of doing.” 

Possibly,” I said ; but keep this wise 
divination close in your own mind ; do not by 
word or gesture intimate that the course of 
events has or had any other origin than the 
spontaneous growth from the germs of 
gratuity resting undeveloped in the minds 
and hearts of our friends ; they must not 
even suspect that life was given to these 
germs by mental or physical suggestion of 
mine. It is quite easy to produce the in- 
fluence of suggestion without hypnotic sleep. 


216 


DAME FOETTJNE SMILED. 


Thus it isy I will to he such conditions as 
I would have. Later on, I will outline to 
you a plan for the betterment of other people 
with the trust money of the rich, that will, 
I think, be novel not only to you, but many 
others. It will be practical and true social- 
ism, and work a crushing blow to the vile 
arguments and blatant nonsense of anar- 
chists.” 

Frances said : W ell, my magic doctor, I 
shall be all anxiety to study your future 
plans and co-operate in them, for I can see 
they are good and must be the best for the 
many, as against the selfish holding for the 
few.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


217 


CHAPTER Xiy. 

MY MARRIAGE. 

Our visit to Egypt was brought to an end 
in about three weeks after our arrival. We 
managed by easy outings to visit the places 
of interest within one hundred miles of Cairo. 
Andrew Issa, our guide, a man about fifty 
years of age, was a most interesting person. 
He spoke French and English quite well, and 
his son, who had been educated in England, 
was a student of Egyptian history. W e were 
thus favored by the attendance of two persons 
who gave us reliable information and refined 
attention. Thus we were defended from the 
rude, ignorant, and extortionate annoyance of 
the ordinary Egyptian guide. Andrew Issa 
had married for his second wife a young 
woman of about twenty years of age. The 
ladies of our party called upon her. With par- 


218 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


donable pride she exhibited her jewelry and 
fine clothing, and then entertained her visitors 
with a very acceptable lunch. Our ladies 
were charmed with Mrs. Issa, and reported 
her as being quite a pretty-faced woman and 
lovable character. 

Egypt is fast recovering from the harsh 
treatment of her protectors (?) and the igno- 
rant and extravagant expenditure by her late 
native rulers. I thought I could see a great 
future for Cairo and the country about the 
city. The revival of the ancient system of 
irrigation, through the influence of foreign 
capital, will cause the land to flow with milk 
and honey once more. 

We returned to the Veda at Alexandria, 
and continued our voyage to the East through 
the Suez Canal and Red Sea. I wonder if 
the world will ever appreciate the genius of 
De Lesseps, who succeeded in wedding the 
Eastern and Western worlds — Europe and 
the Orient — and annihilating time in the 
interchange of their commerce. 

It was only the other day that New York 
City raised a monument to a brave patriot 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


219 


of the War of Independence, and many a 
hero of the late War for liberty remains in 
obscurity from lack of appreciation of those 
whose lives have been made happier through 
the sacrifice of those who fought the battle 
for the equality of men. 

Why cannot we administer our appreciation 
and estates during lifetime, and thus enjoy 
the accomplishment of our wishes, instead 
of leaving the labor of love to others who 
can at best only perform the service in a 
perfunctory manner. 

Our trip to India was most enjoyable. 
Mr. and Mrs. Oliver and their children were 
with us. W e visited many of the places made 
famous by various travelers ; but no one has 
brought home to the English reading world 
a more beautiful account of this marvelous 
country than Lady Brassey, whose story of 
her travels in the Sunbeam will ever remain 
a most enjoyable book to every lover of the 
Orient. 

About May 1st we were back in Europe, 
and on the 10th of the month had gathered 
in Berlin for my marriage. Mr. and Mrs. 


220 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


y on Hoffman had been in Germany for some 
weeks, and now were at my mother’s house. 
Mr. and Mrs. Gold and the Olivers were 
also here with me. My marriage to Frances 
Adams took place in the drawing-room of 
my mother’s house. My brother acted as 

best man,” and Von Hoffman gave away 

the bride. Professor V , my old friend 

and preceptor, came from Paris to see me 
married, and very many home friends were 
present. 

The Von Hoffmans’ wedding present to 
Frances was the 5,000 shares of railroad 
stock which he had purchased for her account 
before we left America. The joint present 
to myself and wife on the part of the Golds 
and Olivers was the money to build The 
Frances Heimath, 

We had a very beautiful wedding, and 
nothing occurred to mar the perfection of 
the event. 

We had left the Veda at Marseilles, 
but Mr. Gold had requested Captain Hudson 
to take her to England and have her over- 
hauled. It was arranged that we should all 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


221 


meet at Southampton early in June and con- 
tinue our voyage of pleasure. 

For our wedding trip we went to England, 
as I wanted to visit the scenes of my college 
days and renew my acquaintance with Pro- 
fessor Allis of Oxford, who had shaped the 
current of my studies in channels which 
later on in life brought me a rich harvest, 
when I began to put forth efforts for better- 
ing the condition of humanity. Here it was 
my wife recalled to me my promise to tell 
her of my plans, whereby I proposed to in- 
fluence men and women possessed of wealth 
to use their money for the welfare of those 
less happily endowed. 

^^Yes,’’ I said, ‘‘1 remember; briefly it 
is this : 

You may have observed that many men 
and women of wealth have left by will large 
sums of money to their executors in trust to 
carry out certain plans of charity and bene- 
ficence which have no doubt been the dear- 
est thoughts to them for years, yet after 
death their plans have been defeated by legal 
attacks of next of kin, through the straining 


222 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

of some technical points of law. Thus their 
trusts have been set aside and their wills 
rendered null and void. Now, had these 
beneficent persons during their lifetime given 
personal attention to the distribution of their 
money, or, in a word, administered upon 
their own estates, how much more satisfac- 
tory the results would have been. Now, my 
ambition is this : I mean whenever oppor- 
tunity presents itself, to influence men and 
women of wealth, with whom I may be associ- 
ated, to distribute during their lifetime such 
of their estate as they may wish to give to the 
public.’’ 

Yes ! yes ! ” Frances said, that is a grand 
idea; no one can appreciate it more fully 
than I, for on just such lines I have already 
written in the Watch Tower, You may 
not know that in New York we have had 
two or three most notable cases, which were 
written up and talked about from one end 
of the country to the other. 

One celebrated case was that of a very 
distinguished lawyer, who left a large estate 
in trust to build and equip a magnificent 


DAME FOKTUNB SMILED. 


223 


library. His purpose has been almost entirely 
defeated, yet he was a lawyer of great learn- 
ing and ought to have been able, one would 
suppose, to make written directions to trustees 
to carry out intentions that would have stood 
the test of law. 

I wrote up the history of the legal fight 
in that case. 

Then there was another very rich man, 

Mr. F , who left several millions by will 

to be given to educational institutions, but 
the lawyers and next of kin have up to this 
time defeated his object. 

At one time I made a list of such cases 
in the United States, and you would be as- 
tonished to see what a large number there 
are whose wishes have been defeated in this 
way. On the other hand, you must know 
that we have had notable exceptions in 
some of our largest cities, where both 
men and women have given away in their 
lifetime vast sums and have accomplished 
great good. 

It is believed that the labor of love per- 
formed by Peter Cooper, in establishing his 


224 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


school of learning, ^ The Cooper Institute,’ 
prolonged his life far beyond the average 
age. To the last year of his life, he might 
have^ been seen almost any day driving 
about the city on his missions oT charity 
and help for humanity. He expended over 
$1,000,000, and yet left a large estate to 
his family.” 

Why, my dear wife, I think you under- 
stand this matter better than I do. It has 
been only a theory with me, while you have 
taken part in the knowledge of its practical 
working.” 

Yes,” she said ; and let me tell you 
that several physicians have expressed the 
opinion that if Mr. Tilden, whose library 
fund of $6,000,000 has been so sadly 
depleted by the expenses of legal fights and 
the setting aside of almost all of his trust, 
had given the matter his personal attention 
— which he could have done at any time 
within the twenty-five years preceding his 
death — his life might have been prolonged 
for many years, his noble designs would 
have succeeded, and he would have gone to 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


225 


liis death with the knowledge of a grand 
and lasting benefit to humanity accom- 
plished.’’ 

True,” I said ; “ and now it is borne in 
upon me more urgently than ever, that these 
ideas must be planted in the mind of our 
friend Mr. Gold more firmly, that they may 
take root and grow into practical gratuities 
of a generous character.” 

Has Mr. Gold ever spoken of this to 
you ? ” Frances asked. 

Yes, in a passing way ; I think he is 
under conviction and that the leaven is at 
work. At the time he gave the $500,000 
to the New York Medical Society, I took 
occasion to speak of this matter of giving 
in lifetime, and he has on one or two 
occasions since spoken of it to me. But I 
was not ready to discuss the subject to its 
fullest extent, and so postponed it. I wanted 
your aid, as my wife, for I believed you 
could play an important part in the matter, 
and how I am sure of it. 

On our trip back to New York, I think 
the subject may come up, and then I will 
IS 


226 DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 

depend upon you to detail the failures of 
beneficence you know about, and we will 
then see what can be done for humanity. 
If he has the $50,000,000 with which 
he is credited, and with only his small 
family and very few relatives, he certainly 
ought to return one-half of this vast estate 
to the public, from whence it came. But 
we will see when the time comes.” And so 
we left the matter for the present. 

Early in June, after a delightful trip 
through England, we came back to the 
yacht at Southampton. I found Mr. Gold 
a little run down by too much sight-seeing 
in London and on the Continent. He seemed 
glad to have me with him again, for he always 
responded most favorably to my nursing 
and care; I could see that my influence 
over him was assuming a most important 
part of his life. He was also very fond of 
Frances, who was always prompt to aid him 
with her fine, terse English in his corre- 
spondence. Mrs. Gold always took the 
greatest delight in reading my wife’s journal 
of our travels before it was mailed to the 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 227 

Watch Tower ; they had become very 
devoted friends. 

The reader will of course understand, 
that it has not been and will not be my 
purpose to give here any detail of our trip, 
my only object being to present the study 
of the cultivation of a mind and heart away 
from the one passion of money-making to 
that of money-giving, and a broader interest 
in the humanitarian affairs of the world. 
The power of money is recognized in every 
land. The new rich,” without education, 
social status, or family history, are received 
with open arms by society of the best, better, 
or middle class ; many objectionable con- 
ditions are overlooked or politely not seen 
at all ; hut all this proceeds from a selfish 
motive on the part of both the entertained 
and entertainers. 

By people of this class — and their name 
is legion — much wrongful and wasteful use 
of money is made. By a more kindly con- 
sideration of people who are not fortunate 
in having largely of this world’s goods, the 
rich may not only use their money for the 


228 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


doing of a vast service for good, but they 
may make an enviable environment for 
themselves and build up a social status that 
will be noble and command the regard of 
all classes, thus defeating the anarchistic 
socialism of the day. 

Our friends. Gold, Oliver, and Von 
Hoffman, had been more successful than 
most men in the expansion of their capital 
to the possession of vast sums of money. 
They were phenomenal money-makers, and 
were now in such a position that they could 
not, if they tried, help but accumulate vast 
sums from natural increase of investments ; 
but they had almost crushed out their lives 
by the great burdens they had carried and 
the fearful strain of body and brain to 
which they had been subjected. I verily 
believe that if they had not by accident 
come under my influence they would have 
broken down and been in their graves, and 
this I am sure they now appreciated. 

It had been my object, and it was a neces- 
sary part of my cure, to so turn the current 
of their thoughts that they should come to a 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


229 


condition wherein the mere excitement of 
"getting would pall upon them. The reaction 
had now set in. The pleasure of living and 
enjoying life for themselves and those who 
were dear to them had asserted itself, and 
was gradually crushing out the more selfish 
motive. New ambitions were taking posses- 
sion of these men, directed in the channels 
of charity and beneficence ; and I was quite 
sure that their interests in this direction 
would be directed with the same force which 
had been the secret of success in other fields. 


230 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER XY. 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

Soon after we arrived at Southampton we 
were joined by the Olivers, and the day 
following we turned northward for our visit 
to the land of the midnight sun.” During 
June, July, and August we were in the waters 
of the North Sea, visiting all the notable 
places of interest, extending our voyage as 
far as Russia. In September we were back 
in the English Channel on our way home. 

After we were out about two days from 
the Irish coast Mr. Gold was taken quite ill. 
He had a slight fever, and for a day and 
night I feared he had been poisoned by bad 
water, and that typhoid fever was about to 
develop ; but fortunately I was mistaken. I 
discovered that he had been suffering with 
another disorder which often presents symp- 
toms akin to those of that most dangerous 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


231 


disease, therefore I was soon able to apply 
the correct remedies and put my patient on 
his feet again. 

It was during this illness that Mr. Gold 
told me that when he was in London and 
while I was absent on my wedding-trip, fear- 
ing illness and having regard for the danger 
of the sea, he had made a codicil to his will, 
whereby he had made provision for the 
placing in trust of several millions of dollars 
out of his estate to be used for beneficent 
purposes. 

But,” he said, this will I intend shall 
only be used as a measure of precaution 
until we arrive in New York. If we get 
home safely, I shall destroy this and make 
other provisions for the distribution of my 
estate, some of which I shall spend during 
the next year or two, myself, if I live.” 

Oh ! ” I said, you will live for many 
years to come. Your vital status is good, 
and there is no organic trouble; I can see 
no reason why you should not live to enjoy 
many more years of life with fairly good 
health ; but you must understand that you 


232 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


have made your brain and body do so much 
work that you have used up in the present, 
power which was intended for the future ; in 
other words, you have anticipated life, and 
you are a much older man mentally and 
physically than you ought to be.” 

Mr. Gold said : Yes, I do understand 
that, and with your help as a governor, I 
hope to run the machine with more care. I 
am losing my ambition to make money, and 
when this railroad reorganization, which V on 
Hoffman has in hand, is finished, I mean 
that it shall be the last deal. By the way. 
Von Hoffman tells me in a recent letter that 
the new road we are building is about com- 
pleted, and by October will be ready for the 
through traffic ; he has all the old stock and 
bonds in hand, and the new bonds will be 
ready for delivery on my return. He told 
me when we met in Berlin, that you, doctor, 
were a purchaser of some of the stock before 
you left New York.” 

Yes,” I said, I left the investment of 
some money I took to New York, with Von 
Hoffman ; he said he had made a purchase 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


233 


of a number of shares with my money as 
margin.’’ 

Mr. Gold said : Yes, and I told him to 
pay for the stock in full and take it in for 
your account ; that I would carry it for you. 
When we get back we will have a settlement, 
and you can then either draw your profit in 
cash, or invest it in the new stock, which 
will be a good dividend-payer ; or you can 
take bonds as an investment.” 

I said : I am very much indebted to you. 
I do not understand all these details, but as 
I am assured of profit on my small invest- 
ment, r cannot but be satisfied, and I am very 
grateful for your part in the matter. But you 
have already shown your generous confidence 
in me by your provision for The Frances 
Heimath ; I cannot ask you to do more in 
any direction where my personal interest 
may be concerned.” 

“ Oh, doctor, that’s all right. Oliver, V on 
Hoffman, and myself do not want you to be 
hampered by the want of money for your 
future work. You have, so far as Oliver 
and myself are concerned, given us a new 


234 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


lease of life, and that’s worth several for- 
tunes.” 

It was a day or two after this conversation, 
when we were all at dinner, that Frances said : 

Well, I have just finished to-day look- 
ing over the back files of New York papers 
which I found at Southampton, sent to me 
by the editor of the Watch Tower ; I see 
that I shall have another will case to write 
up on my return.” 

Another will case ! What do you mean ? ’ ’ 
Mrs. Gold asked. 

Frances said: “I have had heretofore 
several contested will cases to write up for 
the Watch Tower, and I shall have an- 
other, for one is being tried in New York 
now, involving a large estate.” 

Both Mr. Gold and Mr. Oliver asked her 
to give an account of the cases she had pre- 
viously written up. In terse language and 
rapid report she gave them an outline and 
some of the details of the wills of men and 
women of wealth she had become familiar 
with. 

She said : All of these testators had died 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


235 


leaving estates varying from a few thousands 
to several millions of dollars. The intentions 
of these persons who sought to be generous 
after death, had been in some cases partially, 
and others entirely defeated by actions at 
law ; and yet in most instances their wills 
had been prepared by lawyers of good 
reputation. Who can explain the post- 
ponement by these testators during life- 
time of the expenditure of their money 
for the beneficent uses they had named, 
until after their death? During life they 
would have enjoyed seeing their wishes 
consummated, and have had the personal 
recognition of the honor that would have 
been accorded to them, and not only hon- 
or, but love of the many beneficiaries, as 
against the mere sympathy, possibly, of a 
few family relatives.” 

Mr. Gold said: ^‘1 suppose one reason 
why men prefer to have their estates divided 
after death, than to do it themselves during 
their lifetime, is that they do not wish to be 
cognizant of the bitter jealousies which are 
likely to arise and come to their personal 


236 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


knowledge, showing lack of appreciation of 
good motive.” 

Mr. Oliver said : Yes, I can understand 
that, but it is not the correct spirit ; it shows 
a lack of courage — moral courage — and I for 
one mean to accept the doctor’s theory and 
provide for my family during my lifetime, so 
that they may be made perfectly comfortable 
for life. I shall give away my charity money 
myself during my own life. In my spiritual 
life I do not wish to be cognizant of a legal 
warfare over the dollars I may leave.” 

^^Yes, that is all very well, my friend,” 
Mr. Gold said, in theory, but how shall we 
know that our money will be honestly ex- 
pended if we do give it in lifetime ? It is 
hardly the wise action of a successful man to 
thus give away without control large sums 
of money which he has risked capital and 
health to gain.” 

But, Mr. Gold,” my wife asked, how 
do you know any better, that your money 
will be more honestly expended after death, 
than before ? Surely during lifetime you can 
see results, and use your skilful Wsiness 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 237 

sense to direct the proper use according to 
your own wishes.’’ 

I said : My friends, you are getting out- 
side of the point which I desire to make as 
the most important of my suggestions, and 
that is, that your wishes are most likely to be 
defeated through some flaw which the tech- 
nique of the law can alone discover ; and thus, 
your desires being defeated, you or your 
family do not gain the enjoyment of giving 
aid and comfort to others less favored. You 
need have no fear of the rightful disposition 
of money and its beneficial use if you give it 
to well-established organizations of charity. 
Let me recall to your memory the name of a 
leading philanthropist, of whom Gladstone 
said, ^ Ho taught the world how a man may 
be master of his fortune and not its slave.’ 
But you all no doubt know the history of 
George Peabody.” 

Yes, they said, we know him to have been 
a great philanthropist. But go on, doctor,” 
Mr. Gold said ; tell us what you have in 
mind to say about Mr. Peabody.” 

George Peabody,” I said, was by nature 


238 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


a close, ungenerous man. He has said of 
himself that he was a ‘ parsimonious man/ 
but that he forced himself to give money 
until he found it to be a delight to see the 
good he was accomplishing. No man ever 
gave more money in proportion to his wealth 
than did Peabody. He did not wait to see 
his wealth roll up into vast sums and then 
give, but he gave as he made it. His first 
most notable gift, you remember, was early 
in his career when he presented to the State 
of Maryland the compensation — $200,000 — 
which he had earned for selling the $8,000,- 
000 State loan. During the active part of 
his business life he became a great collector 
of wealth from one class, which he gave away 
to another less favored. His discrimination 
was remarkable, and he showed great wisdom 
in the selection of beneficiaries. I recall his 
gift of $3,500,000 for educational purposes 
in the southern part of the United States. 
Then his large gift of about $3,000,000 for 
bettering the condition of the poor of Lon- 
don ; also his gifts to his native town ; and 
then the numerous gifts to interests of pub- 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 239 

lie good the world over. George Peabody’s 
memory, like that of Stephen Girard, will 
live honorably in history as long as the 
world lasts, and ^ many there be who will call 
him blessed.’ ” 

My wife said : George Peabody received 
a recognition of love and gratitude from 
thousands of people. The Queen of Eng- 
land honored him with her autograph recog- 
nition of his munificence and broad charity 
and offered to give him a title, which he 
respectfully declined. He was not only a 
philanthropist, but a humanitarian of the 
highest degree.” 

Mr. Oliver said : Yes, and do you not 
remember how England honored him by the 
burial service in W estminster Abbey, and in 
transporting his body to this country in the 
Monarch, one of the best of England’s war 
vessels ; and we have not yet forgotten the 
distinguished reception of his remains by a 
squadron of our navy commanded by that 
grand old hero. Admiral Farragut.” 

I said : We have many great philan- 
thropists who have evidently found giving in 


240 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


lifetime a great pleasure. Take, as another 
illustration, Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore ; 
they were most devoted to the labor of giving, 
more so than any of the generous men and 
women I have known. In dispensing their 
charities they travelled thousands of miles, 
and yet this grand old man lived to enjoy 
almost his hundred years. We cannot locate 
or quite point out the heaven of which so many 
speak as though it were a place ^ just over 
there ’ ; and yet heaven is not far away, 
after all, if we will only learn to understand 
that it is a condition of the mind and heart, 
which may be enjoyed by the many at the 
instance of the few. Wealth is a godly 
power when the rich fight back the devilish 
in nature by improvement of the social con- 
ditions of the people.’’ 

Mr. Gold said : Well, my friends, your 
arguments are very interesting and to my 
mind have much merit, and if we ever get 
safely back to New York from this voyage, 
I may take them more earnestly to heart. But 
if Captain Hudson should drop me into the 
ocean, I have left a big problem to be solved 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


241 


by some of my friends in the trust I have 
set out in my will, and one which great 
lawyers of New York and London say will 
‘ hold water ’ ; and yet, as I have told the 
doctor, I made this trust provision only as a 
precaution, for I hope some day to ask you, 
Mr. Oliver, and the doctor to help me spend 
some money for the benefit of others. I 
have just curiosity enough to see how the 
plan will work, and therefore I mean to try it.” 

Our friends took deep interest in the con- 
versation and discussion of the new gospel of 
giving in lifetime, and our conference lasted 
until a late hour that evening. 

I could see that I was making a deep im- 
pression on these multi-millionaires and that 
the fruit of my seed-sowing was not far from 
the harvest. 

When I had my wife alone in our room, I 
threw my arms about her and said : 

“ My dear, by your tactful leading of our 
conversation this evening we have broken 
down the barriers and laid the foundation 
upon which will be erected the most magnifi- 
cent structure of lifetime-giving that this 

i6 


242 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


world has ever seen. I know the human 
mind, and I can see that our friend Gold, 
sooner or later, will startle the world by his 
beneficence. The great English, French, 
German, and American philanthropists will 
be cast into the shade by the vast sums this 
man will give during the next few years, and 
I mean he shall live to accomplish it. And 
not only he, but others will do likewise ; it 
will become the fashion to give, when such 
men set the example.” 

My wife said : Yes, I premeditated my 
part in the conversation of this evening, al- 
though I did not speak of it to you before- 
hand ; I knew that you would catch the cue, 
and that the play would go smoothly for- 
ward.” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


243 


CHAPTER XVI. 

HOME AGAIN. 

On the morning of the last day before our 
arrival in New York, Mr. Gold, Mr. Oliver, 
Captain Hudson, and myself were sitting in 
the captain’s cabin. 

Mr. Oliver said : Doctor, why is it that 
mental and physical weakness comes more 
frequently to men who are engaged in specula- 
tion, for we hear of so much nervous pros- 
tration among those who are pursuing with 
vigor this one idea ? ” 

That’s it,” I said. It is the one idea 
which kills. I have in my note-book the re- 
marks of an eminent scientist on the domi- 
nation of the one idea, the enslavement of a 
passion. I think they will apply to your case 
and that of Mr. Gold, when you came under 
my care. It will also apply to many others 
who have consulted me, both in Europe and 
New York.” 


244 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

I then read the following memorandum 
from my note-book : 

^ It is the essence of every passion that 
men permit to get control over them, that 
it rivets its chains together with every hour 
that passes. The greed for wealth is the 
dominant one of the age — not of this country 
only, but of all civilized countries. 

‘‘ ^ It is another strange fact that probably 
no one is so keenly alive to the fact of en- 
slavement by any passion as the victim him- 
self. 

^ Probably no man ever starts in deliber- 
ately to make himself the slave of drink, 
yet among men of any intelligence no one is 
more painfully aware of the slavery when 
once established than the drinker. Few men 
ever start out with the deliberate purpose 
to acquire the enormous wealth that is so 
noticeable a feature of our age. The habit 
of acquisition grows gradually, like the habit 
of drink, and it is a common thing for men 
once under its dominion, if urged to retire 
and rest, to say that it is too late ; that if 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 245 

they break off the habit of working and 
scheming, they will die at once. And most 
of them do. 

“ ^ In the old days, when an ample compe- 
tence had been acquired, it was the rule for 
men to retire and leave the active field to 
younger men. The passion for acquisition 
has riveted its chains upon men, until now 
they retire only when they break down or die.’ 

I think you must agree with this writer, 
but you must also understand that it is not 
the ordinary routine work which does harm ; 
it is the mental strain incident to vast 
combination of details to accomplish quickly 
some phenomenal and unnatural result. W ork 
and occupation are salutary, and promote 
health and long life, but this work must be 
performed with loyal regard to capacity of 
brain and muscular power. 

“ The athlete who works up to a grand 
result of physical powers never gets beyond 
that ; he begins sooner or later to deteriorate, 
and, much to his surprise, when next he 
attempts the accomplishment of the former 


246 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

success he finds that he falls short of it ; he 
then wonders why he has failed. If at this 
time he be fortunate enough to fall into the 
hands of a skilful medical scientist, it will 
be discovered that the heart or lung power 
has been strained beyond natural endur- 
ance, and that it will be difficult now to per- 
form even normal work, and utterly danger- 
ous to attempt unnatural strain. 

^^You see, therefore, it is the unnatural 
strain that is destructive, the urging on and 
on of mental or physical power until the 
victim falls blindly over the precipice of 
prostration, which is just beyond. 

“ No, my friends, you cannot avoid the 
inevitable. If you continue to disregard 
the fixed laws of life, you must pay the pen- 
alty, which is early death. Why should a 
man sacrifice life and the happiness of 
family for mere dollars, when by a mature 
judgment and careful management of his 
acquired estate, he may know to the full 
the joy of a normal long life, and the happy 
experience of originating happiness for 
others.” 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 247 

Mr. Oliver said : Doctor, I am with you. 
I became convinced of the truth of your 
ideas before I left home this last time ; I 
drew in all my lines and will fish no more in 
the dangerous waters of speculation.” 

Mr. Gold said : “ Yes, I too am convinced 
that I have had a narrow escape, and 
shall arrange my affairs so that I may 
not have that strain which I know so well, 
and which the doctor has made so clear to 
us.” 

Captain Hudson remarked that he didn’t 
know anything about this matter from 
personal experience, but he had seen it in 
our friend Mr. Gold and in other men who 
had trusted themselves to his care at sea. 

He said : I am glad to hear Mr. Gold say 
he will throw off the burden of business, for 
I hope it means that I will then have the 
pleasure of taking him south during the 
coming winter in the Veda.” 

That is a good idea,” I said. Now, 
Mr. Gold, if you would make up a party and 
go to Brazil and Argentina for six months 
it would be of vast benefit to you. You 


248 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

ought to leave New York by the first of 
next January.” 

He said : I will think seriously of this. 
You would go with us, doctor ? ” 

^^That depends,” I said, ^^on the con- 
dition of The Frances Heimath ; we will see.” 
And, Mr. Oliver, may I count on you ? ” 
Yes, I think you may ; I would like above 
all things a trip to South America. I have 
some interests down there in mining which 
I would like to look into personally. I think 
we could make up a party and have a very 
enjoyable time.” 

In a few hours after the conversation just 
related we arrived safely in New York. Von 
Hoffman and many other friends met us at 
the dock, for we had been reported from 
Fire Island. A number of the members of 
the Gluck Musical Society also came to meet 
me and my wife, and they gave us a song of 
welcome and insisted upon our joining them 
for a reception which had been arranged for 
us at their club house. 

Several days were spent by us all in 
social matters. I then turned to my work. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 249 

I found The Frmices Heimath well 
under way ; the building was being put 
under roof, and I could see that the fall 
months and most of the winter would be 
occupied in putting on the finishing touches. 

I wrote for my brother to come out and 
bring my mother. I wanted his assistance 
in the arrangement of the interior of the 
house. 

I found the newspapers had mentioned my 
name in connection with Mr. Gold’s return. 
The New York Medical Society gave me a 
reception, and my wife’s card-receiver soon 
became filled with the evidences of atten- 
tion from leading social people. Our future 
social life was assured. If my professional 
career would only open as propitiously, I 
felt that I would be repaid a thousand times 
over for my trip with Mr. Gold. At this 
time I see how more than completely my 
hopes have been fulfilled. 


250 


DAME FORTUIS^E SMILED. 


CHAPTER XVIL 

TWO FORTUNES EASILY WON. 

After I had been home about a month, Mr. 
Von Hoffman sent for me and my wife to 
spend an evening at his home. He took us 
into the library and presented me with a state- 
ment of account of my $5,000 invested by 
him, and said : 

“You remember, I bought 5,000 shares 
of the railroad stock with your money 
as margin, and as the stock very shortly in- 
creased in value, I had no trouble in carry- 
ing it. When I was in Berlin I told Mr. 
Gold of my purchase for you, and he gave 
me a draft on his bankers to take up this 
stock and told me to carry it for you and 
credit him six per cent interest on the money. 
Without going into further details, you can 
now sell this stock to Mr. Gold’s syndicate 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


251 


and put in your pocket $100,000 profit. 
What will you do ? « 

I told him to sell sufficient of it to give 
me $25,000 cash to my credit, and invest the 
balance, $75,000, in the stock. 

All right, consider that done. And now 
what shall we do with your wife’s 5,000 
shares ? ” 

We will let her speak for herself,” I said. 
Frances said : Do I understand. Uncle 
V on Hoffman, that this 5,000 shares of stock 
is all my own to do with as I may please? ” 

Why, certainly ; don’t you remember 
your aunt and myself gave it to you as a wed- 
ding-present ? ” 

Oh, yes, I remember that, but I supposed 
it was to remain in the syndicate.” 

V on Hoffman said : The new stock is in 
your name and is in the ^ pool ’ ; but it can be 
withdrawn and sold at any time.” 

Frances asked if the company had de- 
clared a dividend on the stock. 

Yes, a small dividend was paid in July 
last, and another will be paid in January. 
This past dividend, added to your other 


252 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


money in my hands, now gives you a credit of 
|25,000 cash, besides the value of 5,000 
shares of railway stock.” 

Frances then said : I want $5,000 for my 
immediate personal use, and $20,000 I want 
paid to the Women’s Hospital. Uncle Von 
Hoffman, won’t you kindly have your cashier 
make the payment and see that the amount is 
used to reduce the mortgage on the property, 
which I know is now past due ? The trust 
company who hold this mortgage have con- 
sented to receive any sum on account that 
the trustees of the hospital can pay.” 

But, my dear, is this not a large payment 
for you to make ? ” Von Hoffman said. 

Frances said: Oh, no, I had determined 
to make a contribution to this hospital as soon 
as I had any money to spare, and now that I 
have had so much given to me, I am de- 
lighted to make this payment ; and I mean 
later, when I sell my railroad stock, to pay 
off this mortgage entirely.” 

V on Hoffman asked : Doctor, do you ap- 
prove of this action of your wife ? ” 

I said : Why, certainly \ Frances has more 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 253 

money than she has any use for ; her future 
comfort is assured for life, even if she had 
not another dollar, and I mean that she shall 
not be alone in this gift. I want you to add 
f 5,000 to it from my money.” 

How much is this mortgage?” Von 
HofPman asked. 

Frances said: $50,000.” 

Well, I am jealous of you both in this 
generosity, and I shall, for your Aunt Yon 
Hoffman, make up the rest of the amount ; 
it will be a gift from Frances and her aunt.” 

Frances said : This is grand, and I know 
it will lift a great anxiety from the minds of 
the noble women who have stood behind this 
very important and useful institution, and 
the sooner it is paid, the sooner we will make 
them all happy. They can now use a sum 
of money they have been holding for the 
mortgage, in building an extension which 
has long been a necessity.” 

V on Hoffman said : Doctor, you are 
succeeding with wonderful rapidity in in- 
fluencing your friends to carry out your 
theory of giving in lifetime, and you do well 


254 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


to set the example. I am sure that there are 
many men and women who would give large 
sums to charity, if in a proper way the oppor- 
tunity were pointed out to them. Now, in 
my case, I can well afford this gift of $25,000 
and more, but the thought had not occurred 
to me. I want you, whenever in the future 
you can see a place for the use of money for 
the public, to tell me about it, and within my 
means you may count on me.’^ 

I am glad to hear this,’’ I said, for I 
have just now a case for your consideration, 
if you wish to know about it.” 

Yes, certainly ; tell me all the facts.” 

I have a young woman, a medical student, 
in my employ as amanuensis ; she is a very 
worthy and intelligent person. Her mother 
died about three years since and left to this 
young woman and her sister — who is a wage- 
earner also — a home near New York. She 
had a brother who proved to be a defaulter, 
and to relieve him and save him from prison, 
these girls mortgaged their home for the 
amount of his deficit, $2,500, and paid it for 
him. This mortgage has proven a great 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 255 

burden, and they are now in danger of losing 
their home by sale under the mortgage.’’ 

V on HofPman said : Get me the name of 
the person who holds the mortgage, and I 
will pay it, and your wife can make them a 
present of the mortgage paid off.” 

I said : This is truly a generous act, and 
will be deeply appreciated by them. I mean 
to aid this young girl in her medical studies, 
and after graduation take her into The 
Frances Heimath as one of my assistants, 
for she has rare talents ; she will make a skil- 
ful nurse, an accomplishment which every 
physician should have.” 

After some music in the drawing-room, 
we returned to the Plaza, where I had taken 
my former rooms. I had on my return received 
patients and invitations from brother phy- 
sicians to act in consultation with them. 
Some of the patients who called on me came, 
I think, out of curiosity to see the physician 
who had been selected by Mr. Gold as his 
companion during the recent trip. This 
morbid curiosity in human beings is a 
strange element of the mind ; we find it in 


256 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


all classes of men, women, and children. It 
is not a good element to cultivate, and I have 
always warned parents to be careful not to 
let their children disturb their minds by read- 
ing literature dealing with the marvelous. 
But, above all, I have always advised against 
giving way to a gratification of morbid curi- 
osity. 

The best lesson I could teach those who 
were exercising the morbid curiosity over me, 
was to ask for the payment of such large 
fees as I thought might be used to better 
advantage in the relief of those who were 
really mentally ill, and who cannot afford to 
pay for medical advice. 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


257 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

MR. SAVORY. 

One morning early in October Mr. Gold 
called on me at the Plaza and brought a 
friend who was closely associated with him 
in business matters. 

He said : Doctor, Mr. Savory is one of 
us — a man gone mad on the subject of money- 
making. He says he cannot eat or sleep 
with any degree of comfort. I have told 
him you could give him a new lease of life.” 

‘‘ Yes, yes,” said Mr. Savory, who was so 
nervous he could not sit still, but kept walk- 
ing about my room. I cannot sleep ; life is 
becoming a burden. I have seen several 
doctors, and they tell me I must quit business 
and go away to Europe ; but I cannot do that ; 
I have not been three hundred miles away 
from New York for twenty-five years, and in 
all that time I have managed to get to my 

17 


258 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

office every day, and almost every evening I 
have had my secretary at my house for con- 
sultation for the next day’s business. No, I 
cannot go away. Some other remedy must 
be suggested than that.” 

What is your business?” I asked. 

He said : A general speculator. I buy 
and sell stocks and bonds, and this demands 
my personal and constant attention. I am also 
a director in several banks and railroads, and 
own large interests in corporate organizations 
at various places throughout this country.” 
Anything else ? ” I asked. 

No,” he said, nothing that I can think 
of now.” 

I said : W ell, I am glad to hear that, for 
you seem to be full and running over wdth 
affairs, and I fear that, for one of your age, 
the burden is becoming too great.” 

Mr. Savory asked : W ell, doctor, now 

that you understand my condition, what do 
you advise me to do ? ” 

I must make a more extended examina- 
tion of you before I can advise,” I said. 

Mr. Gold then said he would leave his 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 259 

friend in my care. He called me into the 
salon and told me that his friend was a very 
rich man, his fortune running up into the 
millions ; that there was not the least neces- 
sity for all the labor he was performing ; that 
it was all a mere passion, which he did not 
seem able to control. Mr. Gold said further : 

If Savory will give up his stock specula- 
tions and attend to his directorships, he will 
have all the occupation that is necessary, and 
will be able to conserve his large estate and 
be of great aid to his friends and business 
associates.’’ 

I returned to my office and found Mr. 
Savory working at a table with pencil and 
paper, and so absorbed that he did not notice 
me for a moment or two. When he did, I 
said : 

^^Mr. Savory, this is Monday morning; 
how busy are you to-day? Must you go 
downtown to your office at once ? ” 

« Why, what difference will that make ? ” 
he asked. 

It will take me several hours to examine 
you,” I said. 


260 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

Hours!” he said; ^^why, I never had 
a doctor who did not at once examine me 
and send me away with a prescription.” 

^^Well,” I said, ^^you must understand 
that you are a perfect stranger to me, and 
then I am not so quick as most physicians in 
making a diagnosis ; yet I can see unmistak- 
able signs of serious trouble in your case. 
How old are you ? ” 

Sixty at my last birthday.” 

You must understand,” I said, ^^that 
it is not so easy to influence one at your age 
with medical treatment, and therefore my in- 
vestigations should be made with great care. 
You can, I hope, give up the time to me this 
morning, for being at liberty myself I can 
give you my undivided attention.” 

He thought for a few minutes, and then 
said: ^^Yes, but I must telegraph to my 
secretary.” 

He rose to go to the telegraph-office, but 
I said : Let me send your message.” 

Thinking my wife might know him, I 
called her; when she came, he recognized 
her at once and called her Miss Adams. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


261 


Turning to me he said : ‘‘ This lady knows 
me and has always truthfully reported me in 
the Watch Tower ; how does she happen 
to be here ? ” 

I said : Miss Adams is now my wife. 
We were married in Europe last summer. 
She is Mr. Von Hoffman’s niece.” 

Yes/’ he said; knew that, but I had 
not heard of your marriage. I hope, madam, 
you have not given up journalism.” 

Oh, no,” Frances said, I shall never do 
that, and I shall always be at your service 
when you have anything to say to the pub- 
lic.” 

My dear,” I said, Mr. Savory wishes 
to send a telegram to his secretary, and as 
he may wish to make it a long one, covering 
instructions for this day and to-morrow, I 
thought you might take his message steno- 
graphically, and write it out for him. And, 
as you are going downtown, suppose you 
send the message by one of your boys from 
the Watch Tower, Mr. Savory can then 
make it a letter of instruction rather than a 
telegram.” 


262 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Certainly/’ she said ; I shall be glad to 
do so.” 

But/’ Mr. Savory said, I don’t wish to 
send such a message. I only wish to tele- 
graph my secretary that I will not be down 
until this afternoon.” 

^^Mr. Savory/’ I said, ^^you have come 
to consult me with regard to your health ; 
you have been here less than an hour, and 
in that time I have taken notice of your every 
movement, that I might form some idea of 
your condition. I see sufficient to justify 
me in saying that I cannot undertake to do 
anything for you unless you will consent to 
come under my absolute control, and do just 
as I advise. If you will do so, I will agree 
to restore you to normal health, in propor- 
tion to your age and the severe strain you 
have put your mind under for, I should say, 
years. To be entirely frank, you have not 
come to me a moment too soon, and if you 
go on for another month under your present 
habits and under the burden you are carry- 
ing, you will have nervous prostration and 
your life will be in danger. You are now 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


263 


and have been under such a load that every 
nerve and muscle in your body is resisting 
to the utmost, and at any moment there is 
likely to be a breakdown. It will be of 
course in the weakest place for one of your 
age — the heart. What do you say? Will 
you give me the chance of helping you ? 

He did not answer me for a long time, but 
sank more deeply into his chair. 

I had been subjecting him to the influence 
of mental suggestion, and I could see that I 
was making some impression. His face was 
pale, his eyes expressed anxiety, and the 
working of his thin nervous lips showed that 
an inward battle was going on between fright * 
and will-power. I stepped to my desk and 
poured into a small glass some unfermented 
grape-juice, in which I put a few drops of a 
nerve sedative and gave it to him ; he took 
it without a word and closed his eyes for a few 
moments, then he aroused himself and said : 

Doctor, what do you wish me to do 
first?” 

I said ; Send the message to your secre- 
tary which I will dictate.” 


264 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


But/’ he said, you do not know my 
cipher ; my secretary would not understand 
you.” 

Oh, yes, he would understand the mes- 
sage I will send.” 

Well, what is it,” he said. 

I then had my wife write out the follow- 
ing message : 

S. T : I shall not be down to-day or 

to-morrow ; meet all maturing contracts. Do 
not make any others until I see you. Do 
not come to my house until I send for you.” 

He exclaimed : Oh ! I cannot send that ; 
the ^ Street’ would be wild with rumors about 
me that would be damaging to my interests 
and that of my friends. They would have me 
sick and dying. Oh ! that will never do ! ” 

“Well, then,” I said, “I can do nothing 
for you. If you refuse this and persist in 
going on with your affairs in the ^ Street,’ as 
you term it, your life may be sacrificed to a 
passing passion.” 

“ Do you seriously mean that ? ” he asked, 
his face plainly showing the anxiety of his 
mind. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 265 

Yes, I do, most positively, and you must 
conform to my advice to-day or it will be too 
late.’’ 

Then he gave up, and said : I will send 
the message, only add to it that I shall be 
out of the city for a few days.” 

Good ! ” I said ; and if you will really 
go it will be an admirable change for you.” 

Mr. Savory signed the message, and my 
wife enclosed it in an envelope and left the 
room. I followed her out and told her to 
take the message herself, and to arrange with 
the secretary to give a careful and proper 
notice to the newspaper reporters if inquiry 
were made, and also to the stockbrokers, so 
that no undue curiosity would be created. 

Frances said : I understand all this per- 
fectly. Oh ! my dear doctor, I would give 
anything for the privilege of writing up that 
interview ; it was like a trainer controlling 
a wild animal. I think you have conquered 
a man that has not for many years subjected 
himself to any person.” 

Yes, my dear, you are right. Mr. Sav- 
ory is a wild, foolish animal who has given 


266 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


rein to his selfish passion of getting and 
hoarding money. Not for a moment has he 
considered his sacrifice of health, or the 
condition of others dependent upon him. I 
have taken a fancy to this old man, and will 
try to mould him into a useful citizen. But 
go now, my dear, and leave my new subject 
to my care.” 

Frances said : If you do make a useful 
citizen out of him, you will accomplish a 
good work, for at heart he is a better man 
than the world believes him to be, and when 
his mind has once been turned into broader 
channels, he will become a happier man.” 

Frances said : Good-by, my dear magic 
doctor, may success attend you ; and here 
is a kiss to keep you in good heart.” 

I returned to my patient and found him 
sitting in a comfortable chair, his head thrown 
back, his eyes closed, and his body in relaxa- 
tion. I sat down beside him and took his 
hand in mine, then he opened his eyes, and 
said : 

Doctor, I have had a fight with your con- 
ditions and my will, and I must now confess 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 267 

that you have conquered. Now what will you 
have me do? ” 

I want you to go into my room and lie 
down quietly until I call you ; take another 
glass of this unfermented wine, and if you 
are inclined to sleep give up to it.” 

I made him comfortable on the lounge in 
my bedroom, and then returned to other 
callers, who proved to be Mr. Oliver and his 
wife. She was not very well, but her ail- 
ment proved to be only a passing cold. 

I told Mr. Oliver that a Mr. Savory had 
been to consult with me, and asked if he 
knew him. 

Oh, yes, very well ; he is one of our rail- 
road syndicate. If you can secure him as a 
patient you will have a famous man in your 
care ; and if you can put him into good health, 
you will save to us all a most valuable man. 
I have noticed lately that he has been failing 
and not up to his old-time power; he has 
consulted several physicians, but I think he 
has not been loyal to any of them.” 

I said : He must be to me or I shall dis- 
miss him, but I think he will be. He is very 


268 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


much the same kind of a sick man you were 
when you first met me on the steamer, only 
more so by reason of his age. He has not 
been sleeping .but a few hours, he says, for 
several nights ; but I have succeeded in put- 
ting him to sleep, and he is now there in my 
room as quiet as a child.” 

You are a wonderful man,” Mrs. Oliver 
said ; you will have no trouble in making 
The Frances Heimath a success. I expect, 
if your power to cause sleep were only 
known, you would have thousands of mothers 
at your door asking for help to relieve them 
from crying and sleepless babies.” 

I said : It does not hurt babies to cry ; 
it is good for their lungs ; it makes singers 
of the girls, and orators of the boys. They 
would sleep all right at night if the mothers 
did not get rid of them in the daytime by 
urging them to day naps, and did not feed 
them so much. There is a valuable sugges- 
tion which you may publish for the benefit 
of selfish and ignorant motherhood.” 

After the Olivers left me, my time was 
occupied with professional calls up to the 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 269 

lunch hour. By this time my wife had re- 
turned. I asked her to go with me and Mr. 
Savory to The Finances Heimath, I gave 
instructions to have lunch served in our salon, 
and sent word to the office that both my wife 
and myself would be out ” to all callers 
until evening. I then went to my patient. I 
found him still sleeping, but not very pro- 
foundly, so I awoke him. He started up 
with some anxiety, seeming not to recognize 
his surroundings ; but after bathing his face 
in cold water, he returned to quite a normal 
state. 

He said : Doctor, this sleep has done me 
a world of good ; how long has it been ? ” 

I said : Three hours, and I would have 
let it be longer hut I want you to join my 
wife and myself in a drive through the 
park. 

He exclaimed : Three hours of sleep, and 
in the daytime ! It is very strange ; such a 
thing has not occurred to me in years. You 
must have given me a powerful medicine ? ’’ 
I said : Oh, no ! I did not ; it was only 
a very mild sedative. No, Mr. Savory, you 


270 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


were tired out from loss of sleep and the 
strain you have been under, and when you 
surrendered your will to your better interests 
this morning and sent the message to your 
secretary, a reaction took place and you fell 
into natural repose. You will go with us to 
the park ? ’’ 

He said : I would like to go, but I fear 
I may be seen by the curious, who would 
report the fact to the newspapers.’’ 

I said : Oh ! I have anticipated that, and 
have ordered a close carriage ; you will have 
a very quiet drive, and it will do you great 
good. But first, come and have lunch with 
us. My wife has returned and reports your 
message safely delivered.” 

Mr. Savory took the lunch I had ordered 
for him, a light, nutritious food, easily 
digested ; and for drink I gave him the un- 
fermented grape juice. He seemed to enjoy 
it all very much, and talked with my wife 
about her trip on the V eda and asked about 
her newspaper work. 

We drove through the park, up to The 
Frances Heimath, I explained to Mr. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 271 

Savory very fully all my plans for our sani- 
tarium and took occasion to say where the 
money came from. He seemed deeply in- 
terested, and on our way back was very quiet 
and thoughtful. 

I drove him to his house in time for dinner, 
having left my wife at the hotel. I went 
into his house and met his wife. He told 
her in a few words how he had spent the day. 
She looked at him and then at me in amaze- 
ment, and I saw tears come into her eyes ; 
she could not talk she was so affected. I 
came to her relief, and said : 

Mrs. Savory, I want you to give your 
husband a very plain, light dinner, and at 
nine o’clock insist upon his retiring. I will 
be here about the same time and aid him to 
a good night’s rest.” 

My treatment of Mr. Savory was most 
successful. 1 put him under the influence 
of mental suggestion several times, and in 
three weeks after I first saw him he accepted 
my advice and went with his wife and a 
trained nurse to California. He was gone 
all that winter, and faithfully followed the 


272 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


plan of living I had laid out for him. When 
he returned I saw him. He grasped my 
hand and said : 

Doctor, I owe my new life to you.’’ 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


273 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE FRANCES HEIMATH ” IS FINISHED. 

After a careful examination of the plans 
of my sanitarium and the details of the 
work then fully under way, and the arrang- 
ing of professional and business matters, 
and the finding of a home for my mother 
and brother, who had come to New York 
from Berlin, I left New York with Mr. Gold, 
Mr. Oliver, and our wives for our winter 
trip south, taking in Charleston, Savannah, 
and Florida on the way to Brazil and Argen- 
tina. We were gone until the following 
May, having had a most delightful journey 
and safe return. I found that The Frances 
Heimath had been fully completed during 
my absence, and that my brother was in 
charge. My brother, with the aid of Mrs. 
Von Hoffman and my mother, had pur- 
chased the household furniture, and we were 

i8 


274 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

now ready for our professional work. My 
brother had already taken a few patients for 
the rest cure.” 

I found a letter from my old tutor, Pro- 
fessor V , asking me to give him a full 

and complete description of The Frances 
Heimath^ which he had seen mentioned 
in the American medical journals. 

I wrote him fully on all matters covering 
my experiences since I had last seen him in 
Paris, and sent him a copy of my wife’s 
journal of our European and southern trips. 

This is the description in general which I 

gave Professor V of our sanitarium, but 

I will not tire the reader by giving details : 

The grounds comprehend about five 
acres. 

The site overlooks the Hudson river up 
and down for twenty miles or more. The 
near-by hills of Jersey are on the west, 
while to the northeast the far-away hills 
and towns of Long Island and Westchester 
County can be seen. Southeasterly we over- 
look a large part of the northern end of 
New York city. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 275 

The main house or sanitarium proper is 
built for the accommodation of about eighty 
patients. 

The buildings are constructed of brick 
and iron, with the most modern scientific 
appointments for protection against fire. 
All the woodwork is of ash, natural 
finish. The floors are deadened, no carpets 
being laid ; rugs are used instead ; rubber 
mattings are used in all the halls, every 
precaution being taken to prevent noise 
and promote cleanliness. 

The basement floor is three feet below 
the surface of the ground, and the ceiling 
six feet above. The whole basement room 
is used for billiard tables and a gymnasium. 
The floor of all the basement is asphalt. 

The office and consultation rooms are 
on the first floor on one side of the main 
hall, which runs through to the dining- 
room. 

On the other side of the hall is the 
main salon, with a music room in the rear, 
which is also used as a library. The salon 
and the music room are provided with numer- 


276 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


ous lounges and easy-chairs. Indeed, there is 
not an uncomfortable chair in these rooms. 
The music room also contains a fine organ. 

Mr. Savory, a patient, who is a skilful 
judge of pictures, asked the privilege of 
sending to The Frances Heimath some 
fine works of art ; these are hung in the 
salon and main hall. 

The dining-room occupies the entire rear 
of the main building, overlooking the 
Hudson river and our gardens, and as the 
ground falls off in a steep decline, nothing 
interferes with the grand view west, over 
the Jersey hills, and the yet more attractive 
scenes up and down the river valley. 

On the second, third, and fourth floors 
are the apartments for patients. On the fifth 
floor are a laboratory and the sleeping apart- 
ments of the medical staff and nurses. 

The roof has been arranged as a garden, 
open in summer, but partly enclosed in glass 
during the winter. There is also a por- 
tion enclosed with a glass roof for sun- 
baths. 

Proper elevators are arranged, which run 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 277 

in brick shafts ; the stairways are of iron, 
and are also enclosed in brick. 

The kitchen is outside of the main build- 
ing, but connected by an iron-covered 
passageway. The cooking is done with gas 
and electricity. 

The electric-lighting, heating, and 
laundry plants are at a safe distance from 
the main building. 

On one end of the grounds there is an 
out-patient and free hospital ; also a tennis- 
court and croquet-grounds. The grounds 
are laid out with walks and flowers ; and 
several small pavilions make the outdoor 
living for patients most attractive during 
the summer months. We adopted every 
plan which promised comfort and happiness 
for our patients, so that The Frances Hei- 
math is truly a home in fact as well as 
name. There are some fine old trees on 
the ground, which have been carefully pre- 
served.” 

Professor V was so much pleased 

with our Frances Heimath, that he pub- 
lished my letter of description in a leading 


278 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

French medical journal, with favorable 
comments. 

Shortly after the return from our 
southern trip we gave a reception to the 
medical profession at our home, which 
proved to be a grand ovation. Our plans 
and appointments were pronounced perfect, 
and The Frances Heimath was at last 
launched as an institution for the practice 
of the healing art. 

Mr. Gold, Mr. Oliver, and Mr. Savory, 
with their wives, and my friend and patron, 
Dr. Kuhne, acted with my wife and myself 
as the Reception Committee ” on the day of 
reception. 

Among the guests who honored The 
Frances Heimath with their presence were 
many leading journalists and professional 
men other than physicians, also a large 
number of society people. Of those who 
came, six returned as patients, two of whom 
were physicians, two journalists, one a prom- 
inent merchant, and one a minister of a 
leading church in the city. 

By July, 1888, The Frances Heimath had 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 279 

thirty resident patients, and by November 
the house was full, and we looked forward 
to a very successful winter. Our hopes were 
fully realized and it gives me great satisfac- 
tion at this time to say that the estimate of 
cost of buildings, appointments, and furnish- 
ings did not exceed the original estimate of 
two hundred thousand dollars ; but, on the 
contrary, we placed to the credit of the free 
out-patient department fifteen thousand dol- 
lars. I have made it a rule since beginning 
our work to set aside an emergency fund 
for extensions and improvements, and also 
for extension of greater free service to such 
as cannot afford to pay. 


280 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE GOLD TRUST. 

It was during the winter of 1888 and ’89 
that Mr. Gold took up his residence for a 
few weeks with me at The Frances Heimath. 

He brought with him Mr. D , his lawyer. 

They discussed with me the plan of creating 
a trust for the distribution of fifteen millions 
of money for the benefit of others. They 
asked me to name some of the beneficiaries, 
among which Mr. Gold wished the larger 
number to be hospitals, either existent or to 
be organized. 

I said : “ Mr. Gold, your money is now 
almost entirely invested in railways ? ” 

Yes,” he said. 

And you have made your money in rail- 
way construction and railway-stock specu- 
lation? ” 

Yes, but I have also made a large amount 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 281 

in lands near this city and by purchase of 
real estate in the city.'’ 

Then my suggestion to you would be to 
make provision for the aid of railway em- 
ployees at such points on the line of the 
present railways as you are interested in, and 
at such places as will most likely serve the 
largest number of persons. What would 
these points be ? ” 

He replied : “ Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. 
Louis, Kansas City, Denver, and St. Paul.” 

I said : Provide at these points a depart- 
ment in the hospitals already there for the 
free care of the injured employees on rail- 
ways, and also for free medical aid to the 
families of such employees ; then at inter- 
mediate points provide for reception hospi- 
tals for early treatment of the injured. 

There should also be established at 
proper places, schools for the education of 
railway employees, on the methods to be 
taken to give ^ first aid to the injured.’ 

“ There should also be sent to stations on 
the lines of such railways as you may select 
a supply of hospital stores, such as would be 


282 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


of service in ^ first aid to the injured ; ’ and 
a great service would be rendered to 
your employees and their families if the 
physicians in towns and villages along the 
lines of the railways could be made to under- 
stand that their fees for service to such em- 
ployees would be assured. 

Then have published a book, to be pre- 
pared by the most skilful of hospital physi- 
cians, in collaboration with a skilful nurse, 
covering instructions for aid to the in- 
jured and sick. Let this be placed in the 
hands of every railway station-agent, and 
in the hands of managers and foremen and 
their leading assistants at railway stations 
and in the machine shops. This book 
could with great benefit be sent to railway 
employees throughout the United States and 
Canada. 

There are many details relative to the 
expenditure of the money which can be ar- 
ranged by Mr. D . 

I would also suggest that you give to the 
leading musical societies of the cities you 
have named, a sufficient sum per annum to 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 283 

ensure a monthly concert, free to railway 
employees and their families. 

In this great city of New York, I would 
like to see built a grand coliseum for musical 
entertainment at a price per ticket of not 
over twenty-five cents, and a seat secured 
with each ticket.” 

Mr. D said : But doctor, we have 

now a magnificent building as a music 
hall, which has been built for the encourage- 
ment of music, and there are a thousand 
seats secured to the public at twenty-five 
cents.” 

Yes,” I said, I know that hall well, 
but you must remember that the seats for 
the working class are placed at the top 
of a very high building, and that it is a 
most tiresome task to walk up the hundreds 
of steps to these seats. All the rest of 
the house is restricted to those who can 
afford to pay high prices. This building 
was built by a very rich man who wished to 
contribute to the public a temple of music, 
but the management of this place make the 
people pay for all they get the very highest 


284 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

price, and if it is rented for any public 
demonstration, they charge the highest 
rental. This hall is not open all the time 
for music, as it should be, and its appoint- 
ments are too nearly those of a grand opera 
house. No, what we want is a music hall 
where good music can be heard every week- 
day night in the year. On Sunday after- 
noons and evenings lectures should be given 
on non-sectarian moral and educational sub- 
jects, together with a service of song appro- 
priate to the occasion. If the hall should be 
wanted for other services, it should be rented 
on the basis of twenty-five cents for each 
seat occupied, one-third to be paid to the 
lessors. It ought to have a capacity for 
seating at least 10,000 persons, and be only 
two stories high.’’ 

Mrs. said : I like your idea ; I did 

not know how very restricted the music hall 
we have is ; surely a more earnest regard 
should be given to those who cannot pay 
high prices for music. W e have many places 
of amusement where music can be heard by 
those who can afford to pay. I suppose. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


285 


doctor, you would have this hall built in the 
lower part of the city ? ’’ 

Yes, wherever the population is most 
dense,’’ I said. 

Mr. Gold said : I do not know much 
about this idea of a music hall, but I think 
it practical, and it would no doubt be of great 
service, and we may seriously consider the 
plan as a part of the purpose of our trust. 
How are we to determine as to the expend- 
iture of the hospital fund which you have 
outlined ? ” 

I said : I would employ a committee of 
three physicians, one of whom should be a 
woman. Let them visit the cities you have 
named ; let this committee then select the 
hospitals best suited to the service we want. 
Let this committee agree to give to the 
hospitals outright a sum of money on their 
contractiilg to give the medical aid required. 
As to the education of employees, etc., Gn 
first aid to the injured,’ let this committee 
examine and appoint physicians to do this 
work, under a contract with the railway com- 
panies. The details can all be arranged 


286 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

without trouble, for every railway manage- 
ment would appreciate the economy in the 
saving that would occur in damages. 

would also appoint a committee of 
musical men to visit the musical societies in 
these cities and arrange for the musical ser- 
vice I have named, and give outright the sum 
of money necessary to secure the service.” 

Thus I give the reader a general outline 
of the inception of the magnificent trust 
which was created by Mr. Gold. 

The securities, amounting to $15,000,000, 
were placed in The General Trust Com- 
pany,” subject to the order of five persons as 
trustees, as follows : Dr. Kuhne, Mr. Oliver, 

Mr. Von Hoffman, Mr. D , the lawyer, 

and myself. The successors in the trust were 
to be elected by the acting trustees as va- 
cancies occurred. The instructions to the 
trustees for the distribution of the fund were 
filed with the trust company, but it was 
arranged that during the lifetime of Mr. 
Gold he could add to these instructions such 
directions as seemed advisable after consul- 
tation with the trustees. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 287 

The trust covered the distribution of 
money to the various interests I had sug- 
gested. 

As to the building and management of 
the Gold Musical Institute, this was 
turned over at my suggestion to the Gluck 
Musical Society, and has proved a grand 
success. Music can now be heard any even- 
ing there for twenty-five cents, and of the 
very best and most suitable for those who 
crowd the building nightly. The income 
from the Gold Musical Institute has been 
so large that a surplus is growing out of it, 
which will be used, together with money 
from the trust, to put another building on 
the west side of the city. Thus the poor 
are being helped, and they in turn are help- 
ing to make the condition of their class 
better and happier. 


288 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

MR. SAVORY JOINS THE GOLD TRUST. 

At Mr. Gold’s request I made a trip with 
him in his private car over some Western 
railways to several cities that we might visit 
the hospitals which the Gold Trust was 
aiding. I made careful investigation of all 
the details of management, and as we had a 
stenographer with us, we made an extended 
record for the future guidance of the trus- 
tees. 

In Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, and St. 
Paul we had magnificent receptions and 
musical entertainments. Physicians, law- 
yers, ministers, and all classes of society did 
honor to Mr. Gold. His noble generosity 
had begun to tell in practical work for the 
people. Mr. Gold was delighted, and thanked 
me many times for showing him this method 
of beneficence. It was indeed a great success. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 289 

My wife, who was also with us on this 
trip, had been careful to have a correct re- 
port sent out to the newspapers of this 
country through the Associated News Com- 
pany agencies, and there was not a city or 
town that had a newspaper published in it 
that did not have correct information of the 
great Gold Trust, and from every side came 
appreciative recognition of the munificent 
gifts and the great good that was being 
accomplished. At Mr. Gold’s office in New 
York hundreds of letters were received of 
thanks and appreciation of his good work ; 
and hundreds of other letters were also 
received asking for aid, all of which were 
turned over to the trustees of the Gold 
Trust, who had established a system of in- 
vestigation which ensured recognition of 
worthy subjects and the rejection of mere 
professional beggars, cranks, and fanatics. 

It will be understood from this, that other 
subjects of beneficence were considered by 
the trustees, both for this reason and be- 
cause other sums had been given to the 
trustees by men and women of wealth, which 

19 


290 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


we were empowered to use within our dis- 
cretion. The income from the trust fund 
was also a considerable sum ; we could there- 
fore properly use money for purposes out- 
side the strict letter of the original trust, as 
had been provided in Mr. Gold’s instruc- 
tions. Let me explain how a part of this 
other trust money came to the trust. 

In the fall of 1889 Mr. Savory was on his 
way from the city to visit me at The Frances 
Heimath, He was driving his horses, and 
as they were crossing a cable road about a 
mile from our home, they became frightened 
by the loud ringing of the alarm bell on the 
car, the horses made a sudden bolt from the 
road and threw Mr. Savory to the ground ; 
the groom was able to stop the horses and 
succeeded in controlling them, thus prevent- 
ing them from running away. Mr. Savory 
was somewhat hurt, but was able to ride on 
to our home, where he arrived about four 
o’clock in the afternoon. I found upon ex- 
amination that he was not severely hurt, but 
that he was suffering from shock, which is 
always a condition in an aged person that 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


291 


demands the most earnest regard of the 
physician. I therefore urged him to remain 
overnight, which he did. 

The next morning he was quite sore from 
the fall, and I did not think it wise to allow 
him to get out of bed ; I felt that the rest 
would be good for him. In the afternoon 
he sent for me and said : 

Doctor, T have been very deeply im- 
pressed by the action of my friend Gold in 
creating his trust, and I have sent for you to 
ask if you would give me your advice as to 
the disposition of some money which I wish 
to give away.” 

I was not at all surprised at this request, 
for I had divined a germ of generosity in 
him that I thought would grow into full life 
and purpose, with proper nurture. I had 
more than once talked with him about social- 
ism, and explained my idea of the true signifi- 
cance of this modern agitation. He had at 
first combated some of my ideas, but agreed 
with me in the main. He had fiercely de- 
nounced the fanaticisms of the wild-minded 
agitators who had and were receiving so 


292 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


large a hearing through the public press. I 
agreed with him in this. Some months be- 
fore this I had given him an article which 
my wife and myself had written for the 
Watch Tower on the advisability of Giving 
in Lifetime.” I thought then that it had 
attracted his attention and that I had secured 
his confidence. I therefore answered his 
questions heartily, and said I would be very 
glad to serve him in any way possible. 

He said : Doctor, I should like to set 
aside at once in trust a large sum to be dis- 
bursed to certain institutions of an educa- 
tional character. I want also to establish a 
free public picture gallery in this city, which 
shall be open to the public every day and 
evening of the year, and I want a free de- 
partment for instruction in painting and 
sculpture. I want also to give a large sum 
on behalf of my wife to several of the largest 
colleges for women in this country. Now, 
how shall all this be accomplished ? ” 

I said : First of all, how much money 
do you wish to set aside for these two pur- 
poses you have mentioned ? ” 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 293 

He said : I really do not know. How 
much do you think would be necessary ?” 

I said : Let me ask you a personal and 
leading question, for upon its answer I could 
form an idea of the sum to be expected.” 

Well, what is your question ? ” he asked. 

How much of an estate have you ? ” I 
asked. 

I saw that my question had touched a 
delicate point, and in a measure he with- 
drew from me, but I had him at a disadvan- 
tage, and he could not escape me, so I 
pressed my mental influence upon him. 

He said : What difference would it make 
if I were worth ten or even a hundred mill- 
ions ? ” 

Much,” I replied, ‘^for it would enable 
me to form an estimate of what sum you 
could afford to give away.” 

After some moments of silence, he said*. 

Well, I am worth more than $ 25,000,000.” 

Then,” I said, “ you can afford to spend 
at least one-third of your estate for the ben- 
efit of the world at large, from whom the 
money you have has no doubt come.” 


294 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


He said with some feeling : Why, that 
would be giving f 8,000,000 away ! ” 

Yes,” I said, ^^you could afford to give 
that amount or more, if you are worth 
$ 25 , 000 , 000 .” 

But,” he said, we could not spend that 
much money in this city.” 

Oh, yes, we could,” I said, but it would 
not be advisable to do so. There are in 
other cities and towns people who would be 
only too glad to be the beneficiaries of your 
gratuity.” 

He asked : Do you mean that 1 should 
aid the science of art in other cities as well 
as New York? ” 

Yes, that would be my idea,” I said. 

We would find a place for a part of your 
money in large towns and villages, where 
the refining influence of art is now in a 
measure unknown.” 

He said : ^^But how shall the money be 
expended, so that I may be relieved of the 
details after the instructions have been 
given? ” 

I said : Have your lawyers prepare your 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 295 

instructions and then turn your money over 
to the same trustees who are now directing 
Mr. Gold’s Trust. They would employ the 
proper persons to carry out your wishes. 
You know that the Gold Trust now have a 
regular organized system, the details of which 
are carried out under direction of expert 
employees. If you wish to add one or two 
persons to the board of trustees, I have no 
doubt that it can be so arranged.” 

He said : Y our plan meets with my sym- 
pathy, and I think it may be arranged as you 
advise, but I should want to give the matter 
serious consideration.” 

I said : Why not let me send for your 
lawyer and let us talk the matter over while 
you are here. I have invited your wife to 
come up here this afternoon ; you can sp(md 
several days here and put your trust money 
in such form as you wish.” 

Oh, no, I would rather take some further 
time to think about it; it is too large a 
matter to be hurried.’”’ 

But,” I said, it requires no special 
thought, and need not be hurried. Here is 


296 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


the case briefly stated : You have money 
you wish to give away ; this much you have 
decided upon : you have also signified the 
purposes upon which you wish to bestow 
your beneficence. Now it seems to me all 
you want is the service of your lawyer to 
surround these gifts with such safeguards as 
will ensure the perfection of your plans 
and the perfect accomplishment of your 
wishes.’^ 

W ell, all right,” he said ; send for Mr. 

D , Gold’s lawyer ; he is also my adviser^ 

and he will understand the matter better 
than anyone else.” 

I at once telephoned for Mr. D and also 

for Mr. Oliver, Dr. Kuhne, and Mr. Gold, 
for I wanted their consent to have other 
trustees joined in our trust to carry out 
Mr. Savory’s plans. 

J ust after I had sent for these gentlemen 
a telegram came for Mr. Savory, notifying 
him of the total destruction of an institution 
of learning on which he had a mortgage, 
securing money advanced by him some time 
before this to aid in the construction of the 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 297 

buildings. The old man seemed somewhat 
annoyed, but he said : 

The insurance will take care of this loss. 
These people have been most unfortunate.” 

I asked Mr. Savory to give me a full 
account of this institution, its purpose and 
history, and when I had all the facts, I 
determined that Mr. Savory should make a 
gift of this mortgage money, which amount- 
ed to $200,000, to the institution, which, 
with other money they had, as he explained, 
would enable them to rebuild, with better 
appointments than existed before the fire. 
So I said : 

^^Mr. Savory, here is your first opportu- 
nity to show your generosity in the interest 
of the less fortunate of humanity.” 

What do you mean, doctor ? ” 

I mean that I advise you to instruct your 
attorney to collect the insurance money and 
turn it over to the trustees of this Webster 
Institute, to be used as a building fund.” 

^^But,” he said, ^^this is a large sum to 
give to any one institution.” 

No,” I said, not for you to give ; in- 


298 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


deed, you can well afford to add even more 
money than this and direct the building of an 
industrial school as an addition to the moral 
and scientific instruction now carried on.” 

He said : I don’t know anything about 
that kind of work; kindly give me some 
idea of it.” 

I explained to him the details of an in- 
dustrial school and its purpose, and tried to 
give him an intelligent idea of what an in- 
dustrial school and school of art can be made 
to accomplish with money. I had only a 
day or two before this been over to Brook- 
lyn and had gone all through the magnifi- 
cent Pratt Institute. I had its plans of 
study, and the last annual report of its suc- 
cessful work, which contained pictures of its 
buildings, also its work and school-rooms. 
I also had the plans and reports of the 
great Armour Institute in Chicago. Both of 
these I laid before Mr. Savory and explained 
their details, and I did not neglect to show 
him that this work was being done in the 
lifetime of the generous men who had 
created these benefactions ; which were 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 299 

teaching that best of all lessons — the glory 
and happiness of self-help. I also said to 
him : You need not give yourself any 

anxiety as to the details of the expenditure 
of the money ; there are men and women 
who have made a study of this work ; they 
can be employed to carry out your benefi- 
cence. It is glory sufficient that you are able 
to give the money.” 

Mr. Savory had listened with earnest at- 
tention to all I had said, and when I fin- 
ished, he said : 

Doctor, I am very glad I had that 
tumble yesterday, for it has brought me into 
the clearer sunlight of your great heart and 
noble mind. Had I been at home and alone 
when that notice of the fire came, I should 
have given far different instructions than 

those I shall give to Mr. D when he 

comes here this evening. Do you think I 
can now get up and dress ? ” 

Yes,” I said, for I think your wife 
has arrived.” 

I sent for a nurse and directed him to 
take Mr. Savory into the bath-house, for a 


300 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


refreshing bath ; after which I had him join 

my wife, his wife, and Mr. D (who had 

arrived) at dinner in my private dining- 
room. It was after dinner that Mr. Savory 

(having had a brief talk with Mr. D in 

my study) called uiy wife, and asked her to 
take down the dictation of Mr. D cover- 

ing the details of a gift of $500,000 to the 
Webster Institute, which included his mort- 
gage ; the rest of the money to be used for 
educational purposes, including an industrial 
school. 

Later in the evening Mr. Oliver, Dr. 
Kuhne, and Mr. Gold arrived, and then we 
all met Mr. Savory, who asked me to act as 
spokesman and explain the trust he wished 
to create. 

This I did, and out of that meeting came 
the splendid trust which is now so well 
known to the world as the Savory Trust.’’ 

The sum of $10,000,000 was given to 
this trust, but it has never been known until 
now how the trust originated. 

There are very many large towns and 
minor cities, whose citizens can testify to 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


301 


the very great good the money of Mr. 
Savory has done in the refining of its 
people. In every place where this art fund 
was used, the trustees insisted that the 
picture-galleries should be open to the 
people every day and evening of the year, 
which was finally accorded, when those who 
controlled the galleries became convinced of 
the salutary influence of art upon the 
people. The art-gallery and music-hall can 
be made the most successful competitors of 
the vile influence of the alcohol saloon, 
which demoralizes and makes devilish every 
community in which it exists. 

Mrs. Savory and my wife made a visit to 
several leading women’s educational institu- 
tions throughout this country, and to each 
Mrs. Savory gave a large sum of money. 
To the Woman’s College in New York a 
building fund was given, and the nucleus of 
a large endowment created. Mrs. Savory 
was most intelligent in her gifts, for she 
was well versed in and intelligent with regard 
to educational interests, as she had from girl- 
hood made a study of educational methods. 


302 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

MRS. BLACK. 

Late in the fall of 1890 we had a middle- 
aged lady sent to The Frances Heimath 
by her physician, who wrote me fully as to 
her physical and mental condition, hut I 
discovered one symptom that had escaped 
the investigation of my medical brother, and 
that was a growing belief that she would die 
poor. She was also laboring under the 
hallucination that her children and some rel- 
atives were trying to get her estate away 
from her. She said : Doctor, these peo- 
ple are trying to rob me.’’ 

Mrs. Black was a woman of great wealth 
— the newspapers had said that she was 
the richest woman in this country.” I do 
not know how true it was, but I do know 
that she had by far too much of an estate 
for her mental comfort, and much more than 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 303 

she had ability to manage with ease. She 
lived in uncomfortable retirement, she was 
afraid to enjoy life, and consequently had 
become morose, morbid, and ill-tempered. 
Her case was not an easy one to control, and 
I found that I could not make any impres- 
sion upon her by any ordinary advice or 
system of nursing, so I determined to take 
her out of herself, and turn her thoughts 
into other channels. 

For several weeks I put her under care- 
ful physical treatment, so that she would 
be better nourished and regain a good deal 
of her usually normal mental and physical 
strength. After this treatment she became 
restless and wanted to leave our Home, but 
I determined otherwise, for I had a place 
for her in the world wherein she could be of 
great use to her sex. 

I therefore put her under the influence 
of mental suggestion and succeeded in con- 
vincing her that our Home was her home 
for the present, and that she could be more 
comfortable here and free from the annoy- 
ance of people and affairs. 


304 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Having succeeded in thus impressing her 
that our Home was the best place for her^ I 
sent for her husband and two married chil- 
dren. When they saw her they were as- 
tounded at the change for the better in her 
personal appearance. She had given up 
her hallucination of poverty and had sent 
for her maid, who had brought her better 
clothing, so that she appeared to her friends 
as a new creature — more like her old self of 
years before. 

At a private interview, I explained to her 
husband and children that her late morbid 
ideas were caused by the mental strain of 
constantly thinking of her large estate and 
the annoying details incident to it, and that 
if this condition had not been removed she 
would have gone insane, and that she would 
again fall into the same condition if she were 
not relieved in future from this trouble. 

Her husband said : We have tried to 
do this, but she would insist that we were 
trying to get the property out of her hands, 
and that we wanted to shut her up in an in- 
sane hospital. She has a lawyer, who from 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


305 


selfish motives has encouraged her in this 
belief, and therefore up to this time we have 
not been able to convince her of her mistake. 
I wish heartily she could be relieved, and 
that she would give away such part of her 
estate as she might wisli to dispose of before 
she dies, for I fear that she will make a will 
that may tie up the property and cause in- 
terminable litigation.’’ 

Mrs. Black’s daughter and son were both 
in accord with their father. When I dis- 
covered this I said : 

^^If I should influence your mother to 
give up the personal care of her estate and 
turn it over to you and your son, would you 
be satisfied with my action, and would you 
be satisfied if she should now give a large 
sum to charity ? ” 

Oh, yes,” they said, we should be 
most happy if you could do this. But, 
doctor, we hope she will first of all get rid 
of this lawyer, who has not acted wisely for 
her.” 

I said : I think she will do so of her own 
volition, but we will not let an opportunity 

20 


306 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


pass to suggest any change that must be 
best for her.” 

One evening Mrs. Black came to see my 
wife in our private rooms. Frances was 
embroidering on a piece of silk a motto 
which she had seen in the office of a prom- 
inent philanthropist, which read as follows : 

I shall pass through this world hut 
once. Any good thing therefore that I can 
do^ any kindness that I can show to any 
human being, let me do it now. Let me 
not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not 
p>ass this way again, 

Mrs. Black read this sentiment and turn- 
ing to Frances said : What do you propose 
to do with that silk ? ” 

My wife said : I am going to have it 
mounted on a banner and hung in the main 
hall of our home here as a suggestion that 
one of the ways of finding health and hap- 
piness is to do for others what they cannot 
do for themselves. By doing this we are 
taken out of ourselves and thus forget our 

o 

ills in relieving the greater ones of the less 
favored.” 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 307 

Mrs. Black seemed much struck with the 
sentiment and my wife’s remarks, and said : 
How can such an idea be made practical ? ” 

Frances said : By doing what the doctor 
advises in his pamphlet ^ Giving during Life- 
time/ ” a copy of which she handed to Mrs. 
Black. 

The next morning Mrs. Black sent for ihe. 

She said : Doctor, I have read a pam- 
phlet your wife gave me last evening, and I 
am convinced that you are right, but the trou- 
ble is that we cannot tell who will be worthy 
of our charity.” 

I then explained to her that there were 
people and institutions who had made a 
study of the subject of practical giving ; 
and that to those organized charitable insti- 
tutions we must accord the best judgment of 
distribution of beneficence. 

Do you mean,” she said, that if I wanted 
to give a sum of money to charity, I should 
hand it over to these people and let them do 
with it as seems best to them ? ” 

Yes,” I said, that is exactly what I 


mean. 


308 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Oh, doctor, I am afraid your good 
nature has made you too confiding, and that 
you would be taken advantage of on all sides. 
As for myself I should never give away 
money to be spent by individuals or associa- 
tions unless it was well guarded from 
dishonest management.’’ 

Oh,” I said, you are quite mistaken. 
I have carefully looked into the workings of 
many of the charitable organizations of this 
country and I am convinced they are most 
perfect, and have the intelligence to dis- 
criminate with skill. 

No, my dear Mrs. Black, you must not 
burden yourself with the details of such 
matters. You would only defeat your own 
good intentions ; it is an art to know how 
best to aid the public, and only those who 
have made this art a scientific study can hope 
to succeed in public beneficence. 

In your case you must first have respect 
for a selfish welfare before you can hope to 
aid others. Health is the greatest boon that 
can come to you. You have a duty and 
labor of love to perform to your family and 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 309 

friends, therefore you cannot burden your- 
self with any new cares, not even those 
which would bring blessings to humanity. 
You have already weakened your physical 
and mental power by the burden of your 
estate, and for what good ? Surely you 
have wealth sufficient, more indeed than you 
can dispose of in a lifetime, and more, much 
more, than will be sufficient for the lifetime 
comfort of your children and grandchil- 
dren. 

Your husband and son are wise in this 
world’s affairs ; delegate to them the labor 
of your estate, and if you have any money 
to give away, let them pay it out for you 
through such channels as may seem best to 
you, and thus relieve you from details and 
annoyances which cannot but bring mental 
and physical discomfort to you.” 

She said : ‘‘ You are right, doctor ; I 
will, I think, do as you advise. Won’t you 
please send for my lawyer, Mr. Strong ? I 
will have him prepare a paper providing for 
a gift that I wish to make.” 

I said : Has Mr. Strong ever had any 


310 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


exT)erieiice in such matters ? Have you ever 
consulted with him on any such subject ? ’’ 
No, and I don’t think he would quite 
approve of my action ; indeed, I would not 
mind if I could be relieved from talking with 
him on the subject.” 

I said : Mr. D is the lawyer who has 

conducted the arrangement of the great Gold 
and Savory Trusts that my wife told you 
about ; I think he, better than anyone else, 
could put your wishes into such legal form 
that you might be quite sure they w^ould be 
carried out to the letter.” 

She said : Oh ! I know D ; he has 

been in some cases for me that I had against 
a railroad ; I will consult him when I go 
into the city.” 

I said : Mr. D often comes here ; in 

fact, I expect him here this evening for 
consultation, as he is associated with me in 
the administration of the Gold and Savory 
Trusts.” 

Mrs. Black said : Then please tell him I 
want to see him.” 

It thus came about that Mrs. Black saw 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


311 


Mr. D and placed in liis hands the 

management of her estate. She dismissed her 
former attorney and called upon her husband 
and son to take an active part in the manage- 
ment of her affairs. She gave a large sum 
of money to them and to her daughter. She 
also gave to the Women’s Christian Tem- 
perance Union at Chicago the money with 
which to pay off the mortgage on their 

Temple,” and thus put the organization 
upon a firm basis of revenue to carry on 
their great work for bettering the social 
condition of all classes. 

It was during this conversation that Mrs. 
Black gave me some extended account of 
her interest in the temperance cause, and 
said that her sympathy was known to two 
of her friends who were physicians. They 
had urged her to establish an institution for 
the medical treatment of alcoholics. 

She said : Doctor, do you consider alco- 
holism a disease that will become amenable 
to medical treatment ? ” 

Oh, yes,” I said ; this scientific fact 
has been known to the medical professions 


312 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


for many years, and during the past few 
years specific treatments have been dis- 
covered that will defeat for a time the 
neurotic crave which alcohol creates in the 
human brain for itself ; thus many inebriates 
are helped to give up the habit. There are 
many predisposing causes to alcoholism, such 
as nerve shocks, domestic trouble, business 
worry, sudden loss of fortune or sudden 
accession of wealth, extreme grief or joy, 
sympathy for another, unrequited love, and 
many other emotional agitations which are 
quite likely to excite the alcoholic paroxysm. 
Wounds upon the head or body, dyspepsia, 
rheumatism, gout, heart disease, syphilis, 
epilepsy, mental unsoundness, wasting dis- 
ease, hysteria, crisis of sex in women, over- 
work, and nervous prostration, — these are all 
exciting causes to the use of alcoholic liquors 
in some form ; and then there is likely to 
follow the habit which is the result of an 
abnormal craving for stimulation. 

Alcohol is so powerful an excitant that 
a very small quantity of wine, beer, or spirits, 
administered medicinally, or the mere sip of 


DAME EOETUNE SMILED. 


813 


fermented wine at the sacrament, has been 
known to excite a paroxysm of intoxica- 
tion. 

Through careful investigation by medical 
scientists, it is now known that inebriety is a 
disease, demanding recognition as such, and 
necessarily requiring peculiar and appropri- 
ate medical treatment. Of course we also 
know that there are thousands of everyday 
regular drinkers of alcoholic liquors who 
cannot be denominated drunkards, and yet 
it is this class who more often than any 
other form the out-patient habitues of hos- 
pitals and the private offices of physicians. 
This alcoholic habit causes physical and 
mental disorders which are very insidious, 
and sooner or later bring the victims to bed 
or into the insane hospital. I have given 
the subject of alcoholism considerable study 
from a scientific standpoint rather than an 
economic one, but I know enough of the 
political economy side of the question to say 
that I cannot understand the indifference of 
governments to this destroyer of the best 
interests of society. Other death-dealing 


314 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


causes are quarantined, but alcoholism, which 
causes more disease, poverty, and death than 
all other causes of disease, goes on un- 
checked and only moderately restricted by 
licenses as a means of creating revenue for 
the government; and yet I venture to say 
that there is not a community where alcohol 
is sold that is not burdened by the cost of 
the crimes it causes, many times greater than 
the revenue which conies from the traffic. 

Now, my dear Mrs. Black, if you wish 
to confer a lasting benefit upon a vast 
number of very useful men and women and 
their families, provide a hospital for the 
treatment of alcoholics. Select some place 
with delightful surroundings in the moun- 
tains of northern New York, and put it in 
charge of physicians who are shilled in this 
department of medical science. I have no 
doubt that a large hotel could be secured for 
a moderate sum, at some mountain summer 
resort, already furnished and ready for occu- 
pation. Here the work could begin at once. 
I would be glad to aid in putting this insti- 
tution under way by consulting with your 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 315 

two medical friends and selecting a proper 
medical staff and business manager to put 
this enterprise before the people.’’ 

Mrs. Black accepted my confirmation of 
the statements of her two medical friends. 
We came together and after a careful in- 
vestigation found just the right place for 
our purpose and established The Willard 
Hospital/’ where several hundred alcoholics 
have since been treated with very satisfac- 
tory results. 

Mrs. Black had taken a great fancy to my 
wife, and they had frequently discussed the 
subject of the administration of estates dur- 
ing lifetime. Frances had given Mrs. Black 
quite an extended account of the life of that 
very lovely woman, Elizabeth Thompson, 
whose philanthropies were so useful to all 
classes. She said on one occasion in my 
hearing : 

Mrs. Black, Elizabeth Thompson’s case 
is one in point where the provisions of a will 
were defeated after death. The husband of 
Mrs. Thompson made his will in her favor 
without conditions, but she feared that she 


316 


DAME FOETUNE SMILED. 


would not be able to manage the estate with 
perfect satisfaction after his death, so she 
asked him to change his will, giving her 
only the income (which would be very large) 
during life. After her death the estate was 
to be given to certain beneficiaries named. 
Elizabeth Thompson spent the income of 
the estate during her lifetime in promoting 
educational interests ; she bought and pub- 
lished several books, and sent them broad- 
cast over the country, to the extent of very 
many thousands of volumes. But later, her 
husband’s will was declared inoperative by 
reason of some technicality, and therefore 
the good intentions of both these estimable 
people were finally defeated and the world 
was made to suffer the loss of a great benefi- 
cence.” 

Mrs. Black consulted with my wife in re- 
gard to several small charities she had aided, 
but she was restless and seemed undetermined 
as to the expenditure of a large sum for 
beneficent purposes. She finally asked 
Frances to suggest some plan. She said : 

I now understand clearly just v/hat my 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 317 

estate consists of, and how many dollars it 
represents ; it is too large for me, more than 
I care to be burdened with ; I am determined 
that I will carry out the doctor’s idea, and 
give away a large sum while I am alive, and 
able to enjoy the bettering of my sex.” 

Frances said: ^^Mrs. Black, you have, I 
think, already given your children $2,000,000 
each, and your husband $1,000,000.” 

Yes, and I have given my sister, two 
brothers, and all the nieces and nephews I 
know of sufficient money to make them all 
comfortable ; at least they say so in a number 
of letters I have received from them, and I 
have to thank your husband for showing me 
the way to get rid of the burden. I find that 
everybody receives me with a smile now, when 
not so very long since they all looked at me 
as though I knew they were suffering for 
money and that I enjoyed their misery, where- 
as, on the contrary, I never gave the matter a 
thought. I did not know how to think about 
such matters ! Every other thought was 
crowded out by my one idea of managing 
my property so that I could make the most 


318 


DAME FOKTUNE SMILED. 


out of it. It was a foolish waste of body, 
mind, and time, as I have lived to find out. 

I shall alAiv^ays think it my greatest bless- 
ing that Dr. F sent me to your husband ; 

indeed, I have told him so, and as an ac- 
knowledgment of my obligation I bought 
and presented to him the house he lives in. 

tell you, my dear Frances, the old say- 
ing that ‘ the love of money is the root of 
all evil,’ is not true, only as we see vile, 
selfish, and brutal men and women use it 
to further their sordid purposes. I tell you 
that money is the power put into this world 
to perfect a high order of social life, com- 
prehending equality of responsibility with- 
out distinction of sex, in all conditions of 
life. The moral, political, and social status 
of men and women must be equal.” 

My wife was much surprised at these sen- 
timents proceeding from a Avoman who had 
been when Ave first saAv her a cold, calculat- 
ing grasper of Avealth, at war with her 
family and the social world in Avhich she 
lived. Under the genial influences of our 
home and the constant incentive to do for 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


319 


others which she saw on every hand, and 
by suggestion and by words of advice, she 
had melted, and her conversion had been 
perfect ; but like many others she was now 
flying to the other extreme. 

I was glad she had come to my wife for 
advice, for Frances could play the part of a 
governor, and thus keep the fly-wheel from 
running away with itself. 

In answer to the request of Mrs. Black, 
that my wife aid with her advice as to the 
expenditure of money, Frances said : 

I will gladly aid you, but first of all, do 
you know how much money you can spare 
from your estate for such a use ? ” 

Yes, I am going to give away $5,000,- 
000. I want to give it outright, and not as 
some men and women have, with ^a string 
attached to it.’ ” 

My wife said : Then I would advise you 
to give this money entirely for women’s 
work in various cities. In New York you 
can give quite a sum to the Women’s Hos- 
pital and to the Young Women’s Christian 
Association, for the extension of their 


320 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


buildings for the accommodation of young 
women who come to New York for study or 
work. Then I would go to other cities and 
seek for information as to public institu- 
tions that would be worthy; to them you 
can give your money at once.” 

Will you go with me?” Mrs. Black 
asked. 

Why, certainly ; I shall be most happy 
to do so ; but I think your daughter would 
be glad to go with us. Suppose we make 
up a party and charter a car from the Rail- 
way Excursion Company ? ” 

It was so arranged ; Mrs. Black, her hus- 
band and daughter, and two other ladies, in- 
cluding our friend, Mrs. Oliver, and my wife, 
made up the party. They went to several 
of the prominent Southern cities, for Mrs. 
Black had once lived in the South and was 
anxious to make a recognition in some public 
way of the courtesy and hospitality which 
had always been accorded to her in former 
years of residence ; then, too, a part of Mrs. 
Black’s wealth had come from the apprecia- 
tion of some Southern railway securities. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


321 


In these cities Mrs. Black, her daughter, 
and my wife called to their aid and counsel 
prominent women of the local Women’s 
Christian Temperance Unions, who, being 
fully advised of all the charities and women’s 
work of their locality, could better tell in 
what direction the money could be spent for 
the greatest general benefit. 

Mrs. Black and her party were absent 
three months, and in that time they found 
places where the $5,000,000 could be used 
to further the permanent work of women 
for bettering the social condition of their 
sex. 

On Mrs. Black’s return to New York, she 
directed her bankers to make payment to 
the various charities she had selected. 

And thus it was that $5,000,000 of the 
money of one woman was expended to aid 
several thousand other women and further 
their work for humanity. 


322 


DAMB FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

MRS. BLACK IS AGAIN GENEROUS. 

It was our custom to give monthly enter- 
tainments and receptions with music at The 
Frances Heimathy and thus relieve the 
monotony of the lives of those patients who 
were compelled to stay with us for some 
time. 

There was a large plot of ground opposite 
The Frances Heimath on the easterly side 
of the road, and on this plot were quite a 
number of fine old trees ; I had cleared out 
the undergrowth and made a small park of 
the grounds in which our guests were ac- 
customed. to wander. There was a little 
over five acres in the plot. The foliage at 
the time of one of these receptions was rich, 
and the grass very green ; all nature ap- 
peared with her sweetest smile on this lovely 
day when I had turned our borrowed park 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


323 


into a place for a garden-party. I had in- 
vited the children of our New York and 
near-by patients to come for a day’s visit, 
and they were made a part of the plans for 
the day. 

Mrs. Black, who was visiting at our home 
at this time, was charmed by the beauty of 
the scene and asked who owned the grounds. 
I gave her the name and address of the 
agent. She went at once to the office and 
telephoned this agent to come to The 
Frances Heimath that evening. When he 
came, it was discovered that the land was 
owned by a rich lady who resided in Paris. 
Mr. Gray, her agent, had absolute power of 
attorney to sell and make a deed of convey- 
ance. Mrs. Black made an agreement with 
this agent to purchase the plot, the price to 
be $4,000 per acre, aggregating a little over 
$ 20 , 000 . 

About a month later the New York Title 
Company sent for my wife to meet Mrs. 
Black at their office in the city. Frances 
went there, and then it was that Mrs. 
Black explained to her that she had 


324 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


purchased this park property for her, and 
that she wished her to use it in connection 
with The Frances Heimath, in such way as 
the doctor ’’ might think best. 

I had some time before formulated a plan 
for putting up a few cottages for small 
families. Many married ladies were anxious 
to ccrme to The Frances Heimath for treat- 
ment, but could not very well leave their 
children. To meet this objection I thought 
I would make special provision for them 
outside the main building, and it had been 
my intention to purchase this little park 
and build ten cottages, consisting of a par- 
lor, dining-room, and kitchen on the first 
floor, four bedrooms for the family and 
one for a servant on the second. Now 
that the park had come to us as a gift I 
delayed my plans no longer, but ordered 
the cottages built at once. 

They were finished during the spring of 
1891, and were occupied at once. The 
adults came to the main house for dinner, 
but breakfast, lunch, and the children’s 
dinner were served at the cottages. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 325 

The cottages were built on the outer edges 
of the park, all looking into the main 
grounds, so that the effect was very attract- 
ive and the surroundings were beautiful. 

We named this new improvement the 

Marguerite Villas,” Marguerite being the 
name of Mrs. Black's daughter. 

This addition to The Frances Heimath has 
been very attractive, and has made our whole 
venture and plans most complete. 

Mrs. Black spent six mo.nths at our Home 
after her return from her Southern trip, and 
when she left us she said : 

Doctor, you have been a blessing to my 
children and myself. I now know what it is 
to live in health and see the good that can 
be done with money, for others. I am but 
a passing factor in this world, and I have 
learned that as such I have been given the 
power to execute a trust to which I shall be 
ever faithful.” 

It gives me great pleasure to record that 
Mrs. Black has loyally kept her good resolu- 
tion, as her children and the world at large 
can testify. 


326 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

ONE MORE BENEFICENCE AND CONCLUSION. 

I HAVE now come to almost the end of 
my disjointed story. 

We have had no startling denouements : 
w^e have not had a villain or bold bad man 
tracking the footsteps of virtue and finally 
ruining the all-too-confiding nature ; neither 
has there been a woman in the case/’ over 
whom the men and women of our story 
could cross the swords of jealousy, gossip, 
or scandal. There has not been an impera- 
tive action to the detriment of anyone. 

Our love affair was quite conventional 
and tame, yet phenomenal in that it ran so 
smoothly and has so continued up to date, 
with, we hope, many more years to follow. 

The reader will agree with me that my 
labor in turning the human mind into im- 
pulses of generosity was not severe. My 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


327 


skill lay only in the ability to touch the 
hidden germ with the magic wand of sug- 
gestion and thus to nurture it into life and 
cause it to put forth flowers of beneficence, 
which gave a richness of color and perfume 
most acceptable to everyone upon whom the 
influence fell. 

My experience proves my original belief, 
that in every man and woman there lie im- 
pulses of love and good-fellowship for others 
which are swift to act if only nurtured into 
life and energy in the right way. But it is 
all-important that these impulses be set in 
motion by promptings of a generous nature, 
otherwise they will fail to materialize. 

We cannot hope to influence the few rich 
to do good for the many poor by abusive 
criticism, assassination, fanaticism, nihilism, 
or socialism. 

It is said that the rich are growing 
richer, and the poor poorer.” It is in a 
measure true, but I believe the time is now 
at hand wherein the rich will understand 
that their greatest happiness must lie in the 
execution of the great wealth-trusts which 


328 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


accident has placed in the hands of a ma- 
jority of them. 

The rich, I believe, now not only see their 
duty, but have discovered that it is a pleas- 
ant one. By living for others less favored 
and smoothing the pathway for humanity 
they make their own footsteps more easy. 
They have further discovered that life is 
made longer by reason of the fact that they 
have something to live for. 

As a proof of my belief that the rich are 
making the poor more comfortable, I recall 
the vast benefits which have in the last half 
century been conferred by men and women 
on both sides of the Atlantic. 

I have not been alone in my labor of love. 

In California Mr. Lick with his money has 
aided science to bring the floating worlds, 
which are many millions of miles away, 
several millions of miles nearer to us, so that 
we may study and understand their con- 
struction and purpose in the stellar system. 
In that same state, the late U. S. Senator 
Stanford has created the most magnificent 
educational institution for the bettering of 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


329 


humanity that the world has ever seen. 
Much of the work was accomplished in his 
lifetime, and then it became a labor of love 
to his wife after his death. 

In almost every city and large town in 
this country evidence exists of magnificent 
generosity of the rich for the poor. In one 
city I remember that over $7,000,000 has 
been given by one man to one institution of 
learning. I know that this same man has 
given with a generous hand large sums for 
beneficence of which the world at large 
knows nothing. 

One man of wealth in a Western city has 
given vast sums for industrial education, 
teaching the youthful hand and mind of 
both sexes the secret of self-help, which 
gives one the happiness of independence and 
self-reliance. 

Do not let us forget that great trust 

which was created by Mr. C V and 

contributed to by a thousand other men and 
women in this and other countries, known 
as the Emergency Trust,” which has now 
several millions in its treasury, to be used to 


330 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


meet the sudden, unexpected devastating 
influences of fire, flood, and kindred mis- 
fortunes which come upon humanity of every 
class all over the world. The beneficent 
work of this Emergency Trust ’’ has been 
seen many times in this and foreign coun- 
tries, for the provisions of the trust were 
made sufficiently broad to take in the world. 

W e ought to try and remember the act of 
a rich man, in purchasing the old St. Luke’s 
Hospital grounds in New York, and turning 
the building into a public library, open to 
all classes from 8 a. m. to 10 p. m. of every 
day in the year. 

The reader will remember that my friend, 
Mr. Oliver, bought for my account 5,000 
shares of railroad stock in the early part of 
our acquaintance. 

In the fall of 1890 he came out to spend 
a few days with me at our Home, and one 
evening when we were sitting in my private 
library, talking over our trips to Europe 
and South America, and the great changes 
that had come to him and myself since that 
time, he said : 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


331 


Doctor, you have not the least femininity 
in your nature.’’ 

Why do you say that ?” I asked. 

Because you have never exhibited to me 
the least curiosity.” 

Oh ! ” I said, on the contrary, I am con- 
stantly exercising a passion to find out 
things, as you may prove by asking my 
assistants in the laboratory.” 

But I don’t mean in that line ; I refer 
to money matters. You never have asked 
me about the 5,000 shares of stock I bought 
for you when we first returned from Europe.” 

Oh ! ” I said, “ I did not consider that I 
had any rights over that matter ; it was you 
who originated the investment, and 1 knew 
that when you had anything to report I 
should hear from you.” 

True,” he said, but I am now ready to 
report. When I came back from Europe 
the first time, with my life preserved to me 
through your skill, I found this stock selling 
at $20 per share, and as a side deal I bought 
for you and my wife 10,000 shares, and sev- 
eral thousands more as my share of the Gold 


332 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


Pool. The stock is now selling at $53 per 
share, therefore the 5,000 shares can be sold 
to-day for cash and realize a profit of 
$165,000. I have also collected dividends 
on this stock, up to October 1st just past, of 
$12,500. But, anticipating this dividend, 
I invested for you $10,000 in a mining 
scheme in South America, and very recently 
I sold your stock and my own at a large pro- 
fit to an English company that were working 
the adjoining property. I have, therefore, 
in cash subject to your order, $57,000 and 
the railroad stock. Now, having made my 
report, 1 must ask what disposition you will 
have me make of the stock and money.” 

I said : You and your wife contributed 
to The Frances Heimath $100,000, and as 
1 have been very successful with investments 
made for me by Von Hoffman, and as my 
wife is also well off, I have no use personally 
for this money you have or for the stock. 
But let me direct the giving away of the 
cash in your hands, and you take the stock 
to your own account, and at some time later 
on we will find a use for it, for the benefit of 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 333 

the world at large. You have contributed 
more than your share for my account al- 
ready.’’ 

No ! no ! my dear doctor, that won’t 
do,” he said. The $100,000 we gave for 
The Frances Heimath is one transaction, 
which must stand alone. I am more than 
satisfied with that investment. No, the pro- 
fit on this stock and the money is yours, my 
dear friend, to do with as. seems best to you.” 

I said : W ell, then, I will tell you what 
we will do with it. I know that my brother 
physicians in the city would be glad to have 
a Sanitarium to which they could send con- 
valescents — a place where these patients 
could receive the skillful care of physicians 
and nurses who would be prepared to carry 
out the directions of the consigning physician, 
and who would have the skill to meet the 
vagaries and often unreasonable demands of 
these persons who are recovering from severe 
illness ; they are much like children, and 
should be treated as such. They want firm, 
kind treatment, and their notional emotions 
defeated without a passage-at-arms. We 


334 DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 

can use this money to secure such a place on 
the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. My 
idea would be to find a summer hotel now 
built and put it in proper order to receive 
these patients.” 

“ That is a good idea,” Mr. Oliver said, 

and I think it should be carried out. But 
who would manage it ? We cannot spare 
you from The Frances HeimathT 

‘‘ Oh, no ; I would put my brother in 
charge; he is a genial, kind-hearted man, 
and just the one to meet the vagaries of the 
recovering sick and supply the necessary 
environments to accomplish their greatest 
good.” 

And so it was arranged. Mr. Oliver, Dr. 
Kuhne, and two other physicians, with a 
skillful, educated nurse, went with my 
brother and myself to the Catskills and in- 
vestigated several places, and I finally bought 
just the right one for our purpose. It is 
now well known that the Oliver Home^ near 
the old village of Catskill, is just the place 
for the convalescent invalid to go for the 
final treatment which brings return of health. 


DAME FORTUNE SMILED. 


336 


At last I come to the end of my record of 
the strange but pleasurable events which fol- 
lowed so rapidly the visit I made at midnight 
to my dear friend Mrs. Von Hoffman at the 
Hotel Belle Vue, Paris, September, 1886. I 
could no doubt fill many more pages with the 
details of good actions on the part of many 
of my wealthy patients, but fearing to tire 
the reader, I must close with the hope that I 
have made clear to many, that trusts can be 
created which will not receive the condem- 
nation of public opinion or courts of law. 


THE END. 







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